Being Consciously Weak

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And He said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong (II Corinthians 12:9-10).

Only when we are consciously weak, as Paul said, then is His strength perfectly manifested. When we are fearing, He is courage. When we dislike, He is the love. And Paul goes as far as to say that he personally takes pleasure in negative situations of weakness, hurts, needs, problems – for when he is weak, then he is strong.

Norman P. Grubb (1895-1993)
Who Am I?
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Embracing Suffering

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Life is a game of suffering that ends in death, and all of the things that you acquire throughout life in an attempt to flee from the suffering will wither away in their graves along with you. The secret of this game is that the only things from this life that you can take with you – the only things that will rise from the grave with you – are the intangible things that are acquired as a result of embracing your suffering and fighting through it. Meet your suffering head on and wear this duty as a crown; for in life, the things that you acquire from this battle may be invisible, but when you rise again you will see them as they are: riches far beyond any Earthly value.

Aaron Locker
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Doubt and Faith

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The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised (Job 1:21).

Job lost all of his wealth and his children overnight. Despite the harrowing news, he at first looked to God in hope and praised Him for being the source of everything. He acknowledged God’s sovereign hand even in times of calamity. We marvel at his strong faith, but Job also struggled with despair. After he lost his health (2:7), he cursed the day he was born (3:1). He was honest with his friends and God about his pain. Eventually, however, he came to accept that both good and bad come from God’s hand (13:15; 19:25-27).

In our sufferings we, too, may find ourselves vacillating between despair and hope, doubt and faith. God doesn’t require us to be dauntless in the face of adversity. Though our faith may fail at times, we can trust God to always be faithful.

Poh Fang Chia
Our Daily Bread, May 9, 2020
(adapted & edited)

The Mature Mindset

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Paul’s prayer was that Father would “open the eyes of our hearts” (Ephesians 1:18, CV) to the majority mindset – that we’d move from immaturity to maturity. It is from this vantage point that we can see that we bear “the deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ …” (Colossians 1:24), through our earthly sufferings because we are the Body of Christ, and as we suffer, so must He also as we are “joined to Him as one spirit” (I Corinthians 6:17). He is the Head, we the Body; thus we are one, and the afflictions truly are His – i.e., we never suffer alone! Praise the depth both of the wisdom and knowledge of Father God!

Mark Peters
(adapted)

Life in a Broken World

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Job’s story, even with its extremities of loss and suffering, is an honest presentation of life in a broken world. We face opposition both spiritual (Satan) and human (Job’s wife and friends). We experience seasons of fullness (Job 1:1-3) and extended times of great loss (chapters 1-2). We endure heartache related to those we love (1:18-19) as well as trials related to our own health (2:7). Job’s trials were so comprehensive that they touched almost every area of human suffering, and his responses were also completely human. At times, Job expressed extraordinary faith and trust in God (1:20-22), and at other times he questioned the Creator’s seeming lack of care in his struggles (30:20-24). This roller-coaster of spiritual and emotional turmoil reminds us of life’s realities – realities in which God calls us to rest in Him (chapters 38-41), even when we don’t understand what’s happening to us.

Bill Crowder
Our Daily Bread

The Secret of Contentment

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I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation (Philippians 4:12, NIV).

According to Paul, contentment isn’t natural: it’s learned. (:11). On our own, we desperately pursue whatever we think will satisfy, moving on to the next thing the minute we realize that it won’t. At other times our discontent takes the form of anxiously shielding ourselves from any and all suspected threats.

Ironically, sometimes it takes experiencing what we’d feared the most in order to stumble into real joy. Having experienced much of the worst that life has to offer, Paul could testify firsthand to “the secret” of true contentment: the mysterious reality that, as we lift up to God our longings for wholeness, we experience unexplainable peace (:6-7), carried ever deeper into the depths of Christ’s power, beauty and grace.

— Monica La Rose
Our Daily Bread, February 29, 2020
(adapted & edited)
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An Analytical Study of Words

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Having seen images from the Hubble Telescope, it leaves me with an overwhelming realization that our creator could never be a failure. The senseless concept of a god who would somehow lose any part of his creation resulting in a place of torment is entirely illogical and absurd.

God’s power and creativity fit a motif of full restoration – the resurrection of all – into an environment of appreciation for His majesty and love. A setting so glorious our imaginations fall short, a physical place finding it’s full appreciation only after experiencing the pain and sadness of this world which we now experience – the contrast of all contrasts.

— Mike Owens
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Is There Hope?

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In his letter to the believers in Rome, the apostle Paul expressed his complete confidence in the reality of God’s love regardless of circumstances. He asked with boldness, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). If God gave His very own Son, Jesus, to save us, then He will provide everything we need to finish this life well. Paul listed seven seemingly unbearable situations that he himself faced: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and the sword (:35). He didn’t imply that Christ’s love would stop bad things from happening. But Paul said that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us” (:37).

Through the uncertainty of this world, God can be trusted completely, knowing that nothing, absolutely nothing, “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (:39).

Estera Pirosca Escobar
Our Daily Bread, December 2, 2019
(adapted & edited)

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Joyful In Sufferings

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Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness (Colossians 1:11).

By Christ we are empowered unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy. Because of this marvelous power we can be joyful even in sufferings. By means of this power we can take with joy whatever may happen to us.

Paul did not pray that the Colossians would be kept from suffering. To the contrary, he prayed that they would be empowered to all endurance and longsuffering with joy; that is, he prayed that they would have the capacity to suffer long with joy. To suffer long in joy is to endure suffering in Christ.

Witness Lee (1905-1997)
Life-study of Colossians, pages 22-23
(abridged & edited)
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Present in the Storm

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The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress (Psalm 46:7).

Heartbreaking events continue to happen again and again. When they’re replayed, so is the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” It doesn’t surprise us that this old question doesn’t have new answers.

Yet the truth that the psalmist puts forth in Psalm 46 has also been replayed and rehearsed and embraced repeatedly. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (:1). The conditions described in :2-3 are catastrophic – earth and mountains moving and sea waters raging. We shudder when we imagine being in the midst of the stormy conditions poetically pictured here; but sometimes we do find ourselves there – in the swirling throes of a terminal illness, tossed about by a devastating financial crisis, stung and stunned by the deaths of loved ones.

It’s tempting to rationalize that the presence of trouble means the absence of God, but the truth of Scripture counters such notions. “The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (:7, 11). He is present when our circumstances are unbearable, and we find comfort in His character: He is good, loving and trustworthy.

— Arthur Jackson
Our Daily Bread, June 20, 2019
(adapted & edited)
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