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No Suffering is Without a Reason


When things go right it is easy to rest in the sovereignty and grace of God.  I was reminded of this recently when I saw a clip from the movie "A River Runs Through It".  In the clip the father and his two sons are comparing their catch.  The two sons display decent sized fish.  The kind a fisherman can be proud of.  The kind that usually allude me!  As the dad slowly pulls out his own monster catch he says that it looks as if the Lord had blessed them today.  As he leaves he says that it just looked as if God had blessed him more.  It is easy to see God's blessing when the day goes well.  But how about when it doesn't?

 One of the essentials of dispensationalism is that Gods ultimate aim in everything He does is to glorify Himself.  This is a recurrent theme throughout the Bible.  For example, He glorifies Himself in creation (Ps. 19; Is. 40; Rev. 4:8–11), in His predestining and calling works, (Eph. 1:5–12; 2 Pet. 1:3) in the ministry of Jesus (including His resurrection), Jn. 13:31–32; 17:1–5; 21:19; 2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 13:21), in the kingdom, (Php. 2:11; 1 Thess. 2:12; Rev. 1:6), and through fulfilling His covenants and the conclusion of history (Is. 25:1–3; 43:20; Lk. 2:14; Rom. 4:20; 15:8–9; 2 Cor. 1:20; 2 Pet. 1:3–4; Rev. 19:7). In other words God is purposeful and intentional in everything He does.

 The Bible tells us that His purposefulness and intentionality extends even to sickness and disease. In Exodus 4:11 God said to Moses "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?"  In John 9:3, in answer to a question from His disciples about why a particular man had been born blind, Jesus's answer was that it was so that God's works might be displayed in him.  I think that His purposefulness and intentionality redeems every kind of disaster that might overcome us.  

 So, when things go wrong: the terrible diagnoses from the doctor, news that your baby will be born with physical or mental challenges, the marriage that is failing, the hidden addiction that comes to light, news that a son or daughter has died an untimely death we can also rest in the sovereignty and grace of God.  Our personal disasters and the pain we endure are not random, purposeless, pointless but rather opportunities for God to show us and through us the world His glory.

 “I'd learned that you can't wear a crown unless you bear a cross - that if our Savior had learned obedience through suffering, we should expect the same.” 
― Joni Eareckson Tada, The God I Love: A Lifetime of Walking with Jesus

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