“Even if we cannot feel God in our darkest and most dry times, he is still there. And so there is no more basic way to face suffering than this: Like Job, you must seek him, go to him. Pray even if you are dry. Read the Scriptures even if it is an agony. Eventually, you will sense him again—the darkness won’t last forever. The strength you need for suffering comes in the doing of the responsibilities and duties God…
Puritan Thomas Case was arrested in 1651 and spent about six months in the Tower of London. Imprisonment taught him important lessons, and he has wise words about the sanctifying power of suffering, and the duties of obedience even in distress: “There is no condition or trial in the world that does not give a man an opportunity for the exercise of some special grace or the doing of some special duty. This is the work of a Christian in…
“It is one thing to wait for the Lord’s coming; it is another to wait well.” Don Carson If you are a Christian this is what you are waiting for the most: the Lord’s coming. But what does it mean to “wait well”? James tells us when he writes: “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.” James 5:7 To wait well is to wait patiently. In his commentary on the letter of James, Alec Motyer informs us,…
“Frankly, many of us would prefer this passage were not in the Bible.” So writes one scholar about a verse you are no doubt familiar with: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” (James 1:2) At first glance this is one perplexing verse and one we might prefer was not in Scripture, particularly when we experience trials and suffering. So let me get this straight. When I encounter a trial, when I find myself…
There is a verse buried deep in the book of James where Job is referenced. It’s the only New Testament reference to Job personally: “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” (James 5:11) James assumes his original audience is familiar with Job’s story. It would not be wise for a pastor to make this assumption today for many are not intimately familiar with his…