Essential Truth
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
I always smiled when I saw it. As a discharge planner for our local hospital, I would occasionally visit the intensive care unit. There was a poster hanging over the desks where the doctors (and social workers) sat to write notes on charts.
The poster was a beautiful picture of a tree with a lovely sun setting behind it. It said:
There are 2 essential truths in life
1. There is a God.
2. YOU are not Him.
Obviously, someone thought someone else needed to be reminded of this truth. Don’t we all?
Difficult situations can cause us to seriously reflect on who God is and if He exists. For many of us they further cause us to question why He allows certain things in our lives. But, if we take a close look at Biblical truth we can see that there is nothing new under the sun. The most faithful, godly people have had awful things happen to them. Moses, Joseph, David, and Mary to name a few.
Somehow, over time, we have come to some skewed understanding of God and His holiness. There is a general belief that if we are children of His, He will protect us from all harm and all evil. He just wants us to be happy! As we look back on these Biblical characters down through history we can see this just is not true. Troubles come. Sometimes our faith brings trouble from the world. Sometimes we bring trouble on ourselves because we are not following the law of God (obedience brings blessing), and sometimes, stuff happens. It is common to all people and we fall into that category. The hardest for many of us is when we suffer because of someone else’s sin. Sadly, it happens.
Hardship may be God’s protection, though difficult to see as we go through it. He uses it as a resource for spiritual growth as we turn to Him when life is hard. He has our attention when we are seeking Him to make things better.
2 Corinthians 1:3 – 4 gives us assurance that God is there to comfort us. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
These verses also tell us there is a purpose in suffering. We don’t know in every case that there isn’t more than this but at least we see that we are meant to comfort others as the Lord comforts us.
Choosing not to turn to Him for comfort when we need it is faithless. We are then acting like we are God. Choosing to turn to Him brings God’s pleasure and reward. It acknowledges that He is God, an essential Truth and one we can then point out to someone else as we comfort them.