GOD BLESSES IN THE MIDST OF SUFFERING

Today's promise: God is a refuge for the oppressed

God blesses in the midst of suffering

Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.

Psalm 126:5-6 NLT

For he has not ignored the suffering of the needy. He has not turned and walked away. He has listened to their cries for help.

Psalm 22:24 NLT

Those who suffer the same things from the same people for the same Person can scarcely not love each other.

C. S. Lewis

Suffering — the soil of spiritual growth

The Bible does not promise that Christians won't suffer. In fact, the Scriptures give much evidence that we can expect to suffer, given the evil that is in the world around us and the sin that is in us.

What God does promise is that our suffering can become the catalyst for new growth. God promises to redeem our suffering into his glory.

What griefs are you currently suffering? Can you entrust them to God, confident that he will use them to bring new growth into your life?

The worst kind of suffering is that which we experience alone. When we suffer with another person who is sympathetic to our problem, the suffering is easier to bear. Throughout history, God has sympathized with suffering people. He hears our cries. How would your life and outlook be different if you become convinced that God never failed to respond to your pain?

From the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 538, 479

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

FACING THE FURNACE

Today's promise: God is a refuge for the oppressed

Facing the furnace

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty."

Daniel 3:17 NLT

A candle in the darkness

"In 1989, Lazlo Tokes was the pastor of a fast-growing reformed church in the city of Timisoara, Romania. His powerful preaching had caught the attention of communist officials, and they began a strategy of suppression. Just before Christmas, they decided to send him into exile.

But when the police arrived to hustle Pastor Tokes away, they were stopped cold. Around the church stood a wall of humanity. Christians from around the city — Baptist, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic — had joined together to protest.

All through the day they held their post. As it grew dark, a Baptist student named Daniel Gavra pulled out a packet of candles, lit one, and passed it on to his neighbor.

Then he lit another. One by one the burning candles were passed out among the crowd. Soon the darkness of the December night was pierced by the light of hundreds of candles. When Pastor Tokes looked out his window, he saw a sea of faces lit up by a warm glow.

Two days later, police finally broke through the crowd and dragged Pastor Tokes away. But that was not the end. People streamed to the city square. Hundreds were shot, Young Daniel's leg was blown off. Yet the brave example set in Timisoara inspired the rest of the nation. Within days, the entire population of Romania had risen up and the bloody dictator Ceausescu was gone."

Adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 711-12

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

NOT JUST OUR "HEAVENLY" FATHER

Today's promise: God is a refuge for the oppressed

Not just our "heavenly" father

"Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God whose dwelling is holy."

Psalm 68:5 NLT

From skull basher to brain healer

Fourteen-year-old Ben was on the fast track to prison. The African-American youth had no father, was failing every class at school, and had a ferocious temper. He once tore open a classmate's forehead with a rock and even threatened his own mother with a hammer.

But instead of ending up in prison, Ben landed in a hospital — one of the most prestigious in the world. Today he is Dr. Ben Carson, chief pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. How did he turn his life around?

The first person to stop Ben's one-way trip to prison was his mother. She took him to church and turned off the TV. She made him read several books a week and write reports on them.

But his mother couldn't control Ben's terrible temper. One day he became outraged at another boy and tried to stab him in the abdomen, but the blade struck the boy's belt buckle and broke. Suddenly Ben realized what he was doing. Horrified, he ran home, locked himself in the bathroom, and fell to his knees. "Lord," he prayed, "I cannot control this temper. It's up to you — I'm giving it over to you."

Ben spent three hours closed in the bathroom, wrestling with God in prayer and Scripture meditation. When he finally emerged, his temper was gone — never to return.

As Carson describes in his autobiography, Gifted Hands, in that cataclysmic experience, he realized how God could actually be the father he had lacked — "a father to the fatherless."

Adapted from How Now Shall We Live? Devotional by Charles Colson (Tyndale) pp 567-68

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

RELIGIOUS STRIFE

Today's promise: God is a refuge for the oppressed

Religious strife

"I am the one who creates the light and makes the darkness. I am the one who sends good times and bad times. I, the Lord, am the one who does these things."

Isaiah 45:7 NLT

Extinguishing Protestantism in France

"The Wars of Religion began in France in 1562 between the Roman Catholics and the French Protestants called Huguenots. Though he had to convert to Catholicism to ascend to the throne, Henry IV did not forget his Huguenot roots, and in 1598 issued the Edict of Nantes, which gave the Huguenots freedom of religion, civil equality, and fair administration of justice — the first time freedom was granted to two religions to coexist in a nation.

Louis XIV shared none of his grandfather's empathy for the Huguenots, and on October 18, 1685, he revoked the Edict of Nantes. All Huguenot worship and education were forbidden, and all Huguenot churches were either destroyed or turned into Catholic churches.

Mounted soldiers were housed in the homes of Huguenots. The troops were given license to do anything they pleased, short of murder, leading to horrendous acts of torture and humiliation.

Of the 1.5 million Huguenots living in France in 1660, over the next decades 400,000 risked their lives by escaping across the guarded borders into countries across Europe. Many also fled to the American colonies.

At the height of the Reformation nearly half of the population of France was Huguenot. But as a result of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the intense persecution that followed, today less than one percent of the French share the faith of the Huguenots, making France a mission field for the gospel."

Adapted from The One Year^® Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Rusten (Tyndale) pp 584-5

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

CONFESSION: THE FIRST AND NECESSARY STEP

Today's promise: God forgives all sins, no matter how big

Confession: the first and necessary step

"But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong."

1 John 1:9 NLT

The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 51:17 NLT

Intimacy with God can be restored

"There's nothing like a tough time to reveal what we're made of. When trouble rears its ugly, scary head, either we trust the promises of God and respond with obedience, or we panic and react sinfully.

Too often we are guilty of the latter. When things fall apart, we become sarcastic, possessive, moody, self-centered, bitter, envious…or a hundred other unflattering things. Now the situation is really messy. Not only are we facing trouble, but we've complicated the matter by pulling away from God. Our doubt and disobedience have alienated us from the One we need most.

The good news is that intimacy with God can be restored by simply acknowledging our wrong attitudes and actions. The word confession in the New Testament literally means 'to say the same thing.' In other words, we agree with God — about our wrong choices, about his perfect forgiveness, and about the truth that we are brand-new people who have the power to say no to future temptation.

If you've added to your troubles recently by responding wrongly, confession is your bridge back to God.

from Praying God's Promises in Tough Times by Len Woods (Tyndale) p 70

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

FINDING SHELTER

Today's promise: God is a refuge for the oppressed

Finding shelter

"You are loving and kind to thousands, though children suffer for their parents' sins. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord Almighty."

Jeremiah 32:18 NLT

The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

Psalm 9:9 NLT

About this week's promise:

It isn't fair that we should suffer for our father's or grandfather's sins, or that innocent people be crippled by drunk drivers, or that millions starve because of corrupt governments. But all these things are realities in a world ruined by sin.

What can we do? We can recognize unfairness and injustice as facts of life (which is not the same as calling them acceptable). We can also determine to live in a way that is just and fair; with God's help, we can rise above the corruption.

The abused need not become abusers, and the impoverished need not live in moral poverty. Unbelieving parents need not inflict their despair and hard hearts upon their children.

Ask God to show you how to be a light and a welcome relief in an unjust world.

From the TouchPoint Bible with commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 663

For more on this week's topic, check these Tyndale resources:

The One Year Book of Hope by Nancy Guthrie (2005)
Holding on to Hope by Nancy Guthrie (2002)
The North Face of God by Ken Gire (2005)

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House

GOD'S GIFT OF SALVATION

Today's promise: God forgives all sins, no matter how big

God's gift of salvation

"Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you."

Psalm 130:3-4 NLT

The afternoon of Aldersgate

On May 24, 1738, John Wesley was depressed. He had been wrestling with spiritual questions. Was faith alone enough for salvation? If so, could a man be converted instantaneously?

That afternoon at London's St. Paul's Cathedral, he heard an anthem sung that opened his heart. Based on Psalm 130, it began, "Out of the deeps of long distress, the borders of despair…" He was greatly moved because the anthem from Psalm 130 told his personal story. That evening he attended a meeting in a little chapel on Aldersgate Street, heard a reading from the introduction to Luther's commentary on Romans, and felt his heart "strangely warmed." He had taken the leap from verse 1 to verse 5 of the psalm.

Many outstanding Christians have loved this psalm. One of them was John Owen, who wrote an extended commentary on it — with nearly three hundred pages on verse 4 alone! He loved that verse because once when he was "brought to the mouth of grace" and when his soul was "oppressed with horror and darkness," that fourth verse brought him close to God.

God offers forgiveness, verse 4 says. Forgiveness is God's free gift. Have you accepted it yet?

adapted from The One Year® Book of Psalms with devotionals by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen (Tyndale) entry for October 30

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House