Say No More

Who hasn't wanted to shake their fist at God and scream, "Why?!?"
   The question catches in your throat when you visit your friend who is barely recognizable, ravaged by chemotherapy. It comes to mind when a friend's baby dies or a spouse has an affair. Why? Why did my baby die? Why did my husband leave me? Why did we lose all our saving in a bad investment? These questions wrack our thoughts and challenge our faith. How can a loving God allow so much pain?
   When we consider the mystery of suffering, the story of Jon inevitably comes to mind. At this point in the story, Job has suffered horribly, and he has boldly questioned God, protesting that he didn't deserve to lost his family, his health and his possessions. Well-intentioned friends have come alongside him, offering unhelpful explanations and pat answers. Job has cried out to God, and God has answered him with amazing words and unfathomable questions. The Lord challenged him with questions that reveal Job's limitations. No, Job does not have power like God's. He cannot adore himself with glory or splendor. He cannot judge the wicked. Only God is sovereign. Job is merely human. Job began to understand and bowed in silence to the Creator of the universe, saying, "I am worthy...I will say no more" (Job 40:4-5).
   But notice something else. God loved Job enough to be with him in his suffering-and that made all the difference. Job didn't need to keep asking the questions because he had discovered that God himself was the answer. He didn't need the specific's;he finally rested the end of the tears and the rage and the questions, when we are quiet, we hear him say, "I am God. I am here."
-Woman's Devotional Bible

It took a while for us to trust God through the pain I was dealing with when I had seizures. They were constant & I never could do anything. It made me so mad cause I didn't have a life, I didn't have any friends. At first I let my flesh take over & didn't trust that my seizures were goin to go away. Until He awakened my Spirit by not having them for 22 days & showin' me what my life could be like if I just trust Him & kept livin'a Holy life. They came back yeah, but that woke me up & my trust was stronger than my worry. It took 11yrs out of my life but God gave it back. And He can give those days, months, years back to you as well...if you trust Him. -JD

{Psalm 46:8-10}
8 Come, see the glorious works of the Lord:
See how he brings destruction upon the world.
9 He causes wars to end throughout the earth.
He breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.”

{Zephaniah 3:17}
For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

{Romans 8:18-39}
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.
25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)
37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

{1 Peter 4:12-19}
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.
13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
14 So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.
15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs.
16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!
17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News?
18 And also,
“If the righteous are barely saved,
what will happen to godless sinners?”
19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.