Seeing Joy in Suffering
Stephen Whitney
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
We live in a culture that focuses on joy and happiness. People do not want to think about pain and suffering because those things take away from our joy and happiness.
Past generations were not surprised by suffering while our age seems to be surprised that we suffer such things as: accidents, cancer, disease, fire, floods and storms which bring suffering into our lives and the lives of those we love.
Suffering is part of the fallen world in which we live. As a result of Adam's sin, we all suffer throughout our lives. Genesis 3:17 God told him, ''Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.''
The world in which we live is affected by the consequences of sin. Romans 8:21 Creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption. Philipps paraphrase - change and decay.
Vavasor Powell - ''Saints should fear every sin, but no sufferings.'' Suffering gives believers the opportunity to trust God more.
TEMPORARY TRIALS :16 We do not lose heart - by giving up hope even though we are going through difficulties and trials in our everyday life.
Outward man - refers to our physical body, not our old nature. I Samuel 16:7 When Samuel was looking to anoint the next king of Israel God told him, ''Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Wasting away (KJB perish) - Gk. to decay, destroy or ruin. Luke 12:33 a moth that eats holes in clothes or possessions. Here the reference is to our bodily strength being consumed by the trials and suffering we experience in everyday life.
Our physical bodies become weaker the longer we live. Psalm 90:10 The years of our life our seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble.
Tim Keller - ''Our bodies are wearing away. Our hearts are like wind-up clocks with a finite number of clicks that are clicking away. Our physical appearance an ...
Stephen Whitney
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
We live in a culture that focuses on joy and happiness. People do not want to think about pain and suffering because those things take away from our joy and happiness.
Past generations were not surprised by suffering while our age seems to be surprised that we suffer such things as: accidents, cancer, disease, fire, floods and storms which bring suffering into our lives and the lives of those we love.
Suffering is part of the fallen world in which we live. As a result of Adam's sin, we all suffer throughout our lives. Genesis 3:17 God told him, ''Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.''
The world in which we live is affected by the consequences of sin. Romans 8:21 Creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption. Philipps paraphrase - change and decay.
Vavasor Powell - ''Saints should fear every sin, but no sufferings.'' Suffering gives believers the opportunity to trust God more.
TEMPORARY TRIALS :16 We do not lose heart - by giving up hope even though we are going through difficulties and trials in our everyday life.
Outward man - refers to our physical body, not our old nature. I Samuel 16:7 When Samuel was looking to anoint the next king of Israel God told him, ''Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Wasting away (KJB perish) - Gk. to decay, destroy or ruin. Luke 12:33 a moth that eats holes in clothes or possessions. Here the reference is to our bodily strength being consumed by the trials and suffering we experience in everyday life.
Our physical bodies become weaker the longer we live. Psalm 90:10 The years of our life our seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble.
Tim Keller - ''Our bodies are wearing away. Our hearts are like wind-up clocks with a finite number of clicks that are clicking away. Our physical appearance an ...
There are 9876 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
