Gift of Pain
Stephen Whitney
Romans 8:18-23
Suffering is a universal experience because of sin in our world and in our lives. No one gets through life without experiencing personal suffering such as: losing a loved one, physical illness, emotional pain, financial setbacks, or natural disaster.
Philip Yancy in Where Is God When It Hurts? Wrote, ''I have never read a poem extolling the virtues of pain, nor seen a statute erected in its honor, nor a hymn dedicated to it. Pain is usually defined as 'unpleasantness'.''
Someone has said, ''Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of a rebel heart.'' C.S. Lewis wrote, ''God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.''
Pain in our life is meant to awaken in us a sense of need which should lead us to lean on God to give us endurance and strength.
PRESENT SUFFERING :18-19 Contrast :18 Sufferings - Gk. affliction, calamity or evil. The word was used of the sufferings of Christ (I Peter 1:11). He was beaten, mocked and then crucified on a cross.
Paul also used it of his own sufferings (II Timothy 3:11). He was beaten, stoned and left for dead.
Present time - what believers were experiencing because of their faith in Christ which may have been rejection by their family and friends. For others it may have been the loss of their job
The sufferings we experience in our lives now can be: Natural - fires, floods, heat, cold, wind storms.
Personal - accidents, disappointments, failure, family problems.
Physical - cancer, diseases. heart problem, old age.
Emotional - anxiety, depression, stress, worry.
Spiritual - oppression, persecution. temptation, sins.
Comparing - Gk. what balances the scales or is of equal value. Matthew Poole - ''If the sufferings of this life be weighed with the glory to come, they will be light in comparison.''
There is nothing that we suffer in this life which can d ...
Stephen Whitney
Romans 8:18-23
Suffering is a universal experience because of sin in our world and in our lives. No one gets through life without experiencing personal suffering such as: losing a loved one, physical illness, emotional pain, financial setbacks, or natural disaster.
Philip Yancy in Where Is God When It Hurts? Wrote, ''I have never read a poem extolling the virtues of pain, nor seen a statute erected in its honor, nor a hymn dedicated to it. Pain is usually defined as 'unpleasantness'.''
Someone has said, ''Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of a rebel heart.'' C.S. Lewis wrote, ''God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.''
Pain in our life is meant to awaken in us a sense of need which should lead us to lean on God to give us endurance and strength.
PRESENT SUFFERING :18-19 Contrast :18 Sufferings - Gk. affliction, calamity or evil. The word was used of the sufferings of Christ (I Peter 1:11). He was beaten, mocked and then crucified on a cross.
Paul also used it of his own sufferings (II Timothy 3:11). He was beaten, stoned and left for dead.
Present time - what believers were experiencing because of their faith in Christ which may have been rejection by their family and friends. For others it may have been the loss of their job
The sufferings we experience in our lives now can be: Natural - fires, floods, heat, cold, wind storms.
Personal - accidents, disappointments, failure, family problems.
Physical - cancer, diseases. heart problem, old age.
Emotional - anxiety, depression, stress, worry.
Spiritual - oppression, persecution. temptation, sins.
Comparing - Gk. what balances the scales or is of equal value. Matthew Poole - ''If the sufferings of this life be weighed with the glory to come, they will be light in comparison.''
There is nothing that we suffer in this life which can d ...
There are 10209 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
