Where The Sufferer Is, God Is

Where the Sufferer Is, God Is

Isaiah 53:4, Romans 5:8NLT

The biblical revelation neither explains nor eliminates suffering. It shows, rather, God entering into the life of suffering humanity, accepting and sharing the suffering. Scripture is not a lecture from God, pointing the finger at unfortunate suffers and saying, “I told you so; here and here is where you went wrong; now you are paying for it.”

Nor is it a program from God providing, step by step, for the gradual elimination of suffering in a series of five-year plans. There is no progress from more to less suffering from Egyptian bondage to wilderness wandering, to Kingless anarchy, to Assyrian siege Etc.

The suffering is there, and where the sufferer is, God is.

Isaiah 53:4NLT Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

Notice Verse 4 again, …And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for His own sins!

Romans 5:8NLT Part of the text today straightens our confusion out, 8. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Wow, God sent His Son to suffer for us; in replace of us; however, He didn’t come to expel all your physical suffering, No, but He came to completely expelled your Spiritual suffering. Say, eternity.

One day every Saint will transfer from the land of the dying (Earth) to the Land of the Living (Heaven)!

Listen to Deuteronomy 7:7-8NLT “The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8 Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

And then William Tyndale, who later burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English, a winsome scholar whose life was changed by finding-

1 John 4:19NLT We love each other because he loved us first.

He called it the pearl gate through which I entered the Kingdom. Tyndale wrote, “I used to think salvation was not for me, since I did not love God; but those precious words showed me that God does not love us because we first loved Him. No, no; we love Him because He first loved us. It makes all the difference!”

Again, 1 John 4:19NIV We love Him because He first loved us.

“I’m totally convinced if you knew how free you were, and how Jesus Christ came to disarm the devil’s forces, while setting you free, you would continual to grow spiritually.” P.H.

Jesus said in John 16:33NLT I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Jesus Christ broke the back of death, hell and the grave. He came to set you completely free.

Recently, I read some real life warnings on products. The first one was found on a snow sled. It warned: “Beware: sled may develop high speed under certain snow conditions.” I wonder if that warning was for ignorant Floridian kids who have never seen snow. I mean when I was a kid we were looking for those “certain snow conditions” so that we could tear down the hills around Hartwell, Ga. That was a boys dream—not a legal nightmare.

On a package of fishing lure was attached the warning: “Harmful is swallowed.” Now that strikes me funny! Is that written to warn fish in the pond? Or can you imagine a fisherman in a boat getting hungry. He has been out so long on the water that he is starved. He looks down at the brightly colored lure and thinks: “that looks tasty.” He is about ready to pop that puppy in his mouth when he sees the warning label. I’m just not sure who they are warning.

A carpenter’s router carries a warning, “This product not intended for use as a dental drill.” I wonder if Sears has had too many dentists in their tool isle wondering if they could buy their routers instead of expensive dental equipment.

One company sells those cardboard sunshields used to keep the hot sun off car dashboards. One of their legal eagles is really concerned that someone might forget to remove their product before heading onto the highway. So the shield carries the warning, “Do not drive with sunshield in place.” Who could forget to remove the obstruction?