I’m really unorganized and kind of scattered at this point lol I’d probably end up explaining romans.
inhave two neices extremely angry towards God. Thier dad was just diagnosed with stage four terminal adenocarcinoma at 59 Both blame God they also lost thier mither very young to cancer years ago . It’s hard to see them hurting so much and directing it towards God . I was just searching for some thoughts or ideas of what to possibly say
I am sorry to hear that your nieces are experiencing reasons we need salvation. We should remember that our heavenly Father also grieved over the crucifixion of His son. Here are some thoughts about suffering from our website:
An obvious truism that needs to be mentioned is that the happy ending has not happened yet! In between conversion and heaven, God allows our journey to go through various places we would rather not visit: the ghost town of job loss, the quarantined ghetto of disease, the burning village of divided families. History can be viewed as a long “King of the Hill” struggle (KOTH).
But
let us take heart from the words of Paul (in Phil. 4:12-13: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation… I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” I think Paul’s secret is to treat every negative experience as an opportunity for learning some truth that will help us to become stronger persons and better witnesses for Christ. Financial problems teach us to value spiritual riches and to rely on God (1Tim. 5:6-10), physical ailments teach us to appreciate a healthy immortal life in heaven (2Cor. 12:7-10), and unhappy relationships motivate us to resist the devil, even though we feel as if God has forsaken us (Jam. 4:7-10, Matt. 27:46).
The paradoxical truth is that
Believers experience joy despite KOTH or suffering (1Pet. 4:13). While not desiring to suffer or praying for problems, mature Christians have a Christ-like attitude so that tribulations only make them merely joyful rather than overjoyed! Christians are joyous because they realize that suffering is only for a season and for good reason:
- Pain and sickness due to mortality teach us to center our lives on God and the hope of immortality,
2. Pain resulting from sinful behavior leads the wise to conform to the character of Christ (Heb. 12:4-11, Rom. 8:29),
3. Relying on God’s grace and truth in the midst of undeserved troubles glorifies Christ (2Cor. 4:7-11) and shows the value of LGW,
4. Troubles serve to keep mature saints humble (2Cor. 12:7-12), and
5. God’s Holy Spirit comforts those who suffer and thereby demonstrates His love (Matt. 5:4, 2Cor. 1:3-4).
As Paul wrote (in RM 5:3-4), “We also rejoice in our sufferings (KOTH), because we know that
suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Our hope is that we gain heaven (PHP 1:21), which is worth any grief occasioned by Faith (1Pet. 1:6-9, 2Cor. 4:16-18, Heb. 12:2). Yes, this life is not heaven yet, although our continual prayer is for God’s will to be done on earth in our lives, but I encourage you to keep on believing God and resisting evil (JM 4:7) until God’s kingdom comes. Do not be discouraged, but rather relax and rest in God’s love as you remember what is really important in life. Have joy despite adversity because of hope!
LIC, GWH
