How can we say, “God is good” and yet live in a world where parents bury children? How can the goodness of God be reconciled with those little caskets?

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'Do you, with God’s help, undertake not to complain against God should your children die before you?” An extra question Francis Shaeffer included in the baptismal ceremony at L’Abri in Switzerland

How can we say, “God is good” and yet live in a world where parents bury children? How can the goodness of God be reconciled with those little caskets?

austind90.wordpress.com/2024/04/29/lit…

“The Christian has a great advantage over other men, not by being less fallen than they, nor less doomed to live in a fallen world, but by knowing that he is a fallen man in a fallen world.” C. S. Lewis

“In eternity this world will be like Troy, I believe, and all that has passed here will be the epic of the universe, the ballad they sing in the streets.” Marilynne Robinson

Bringing those thorny 'why' questions to God.

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Mark Vroegop describes lament as, “…the honest cry of a hurting heart wrestling with the paradox of pain and the promise of God’s goodness.”

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What a precious gift someone made us.

“The Great Shepherd of the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, has reached into the flock and He has picked up your little lamb...He has richer and greener pastures for you, and He wants you to follow. Will you follow Him?”

austind90.wordpress.com/2024/02/05/why…

“Why does Cain murder?” asks Dietrich Bonhoeffer rhetorically. “Out of hatred for God,” he answers.

Sin is theological before it is anthropological.

'Divine sovereignty permits mistakes.' Elisabeth Elliot in her biography of Amy Carmichael

'The world cannot hate us, we are too much like it. Oh, that God would make us dangerous.' Jim Elliot

“The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night, giving perfect peace.” Spurgeon

In the hardships of life, as well as in our deepest woes, only in hindsight do we realize the hidden hand of God at work in them. He is not making us stronger but showing us how weak we are in ourselves, that we might live solely in the strength that Christ provides.

“No matter the trials you face, the Lord loves you so deeply that you can actually feel at peace in the middle of the storm.” Joni

“If God calls you to be a minister, don't stoop to becoming a king.” Charles H. Spurgeon

“Perseverance is the ability to choose the good even in the midst of hardships, which results in a faith that is fully developed—complete and needing nothing else (James 1:3-4).” Joni

'We must hold two things together in tension: 1) It is never right to be angry at God and 2) if we feel angry at Him, we should go directly to Him. The Lord does not want us to deny, diminish, or deny our feelings. Yet, feelings are gauges not guides.'

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Pastors, do not desire to be known or build a platform.

Be content with being known as a slave of Christ to God, a faithful husband to your wife, a loving father to your children, and a faithful & loving pastor to your church.

That is enough.