Job 42:10-11 NRSV
And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him;

The last part being the unpopular part. Although it was Satan that caused it, without God giving him permission it wouldn’t have happened.

Lamentations 3:37-38 NRSV
Who can command and have it done, if the Lord has not ordained it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?

• on the problem of platitudes
• Matt Chandler: Suffering
• Don’t Stop Believing – If you are interested, Michael Wittmer will be writing about Rob Bell’s book Love Wins and his own book Christ Alone on his blog
• Christianity Explored – “I found this new site very hard to leave. It’s meant to help unbelievers.”–John Piper
• A Portrait Of Jesus With Photography and Pastels – Of course this isn’t Jesus, but it’s interesting, especially for those who know their way around software for photography
• Robert’s Greek Grammar – Edited and Republished by Donald L. Potter

• Luther and Suffering | Commentary on Romans 5:4
• Resisting Consumeristic Temptations
• Why the Debate between Formal Equivalence and Functional Equivalence is Deceptive
• Uncle… Uncle! – see the last part of the post–the lists

Three eclectic items for you. I’m still not doing well, maybe worse. Please pray. I really don’t want to go to the hospital.

Proverbs 30:1-3 NLT
The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh contain this message.
I am weary, O God; I am weary and worn out, O God.
2 I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense.
3 I have not mastered human wisdom, nor do I know the Holy One.

Job 25:4-6
How can a mortal be innocent before God?
Can anyone born of a woman be pure?
5 God is more glorious than the moon; he shines brighter than the stars.
6 In comparison, people are maggots; we mortals are mere worms.”

Psalm 22:5-6
They cried out to you and were saved.
They trusted in you and were never disgraced.
6 But I am a worm and not a man.
I am scorned and despised by all!

Clifford observes that these examples of “low anthropology,” of self-abasement, express reverence.

–Bruce Waltke, Proverbs, quoting Clifford, Proverbs, p. 26

This makes sense because even these examples don’t begin to measure the difference in knowledge and wisdom, between God and us. One of my favorite phrases lately, when I’m not at my worst, is “I’m too stupid to be human.”

Isaiah 55:8-9
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

The more we learn this, the more we realize what a wretch we are, as in the hymn Amazing Grace, or how Wretched, as in the radio show.

On another note:

Hope for Your Dark Night of the Soul

And:

Marks of maturity
This ‘walk’ is similar to mine. I’m not sure I’m at the second part yet, or at least some of them. It’s an interesting post in any case.

Being in extreme agony last week (and still not doing real well, but better), for the second time in my life I wasn’t able to do much devotional type stuff at all. The other time was after my recent surgery and had to have my wife read the Bible to me. All of the other times, I was either sick or suffering a great amount from mental health stuff (sometimes at the same time), I was able to do these things. But when things are at their worst, I can hardly stand any stimulation of any kind. That may be why you see so many suffering people just sitting or lying down doing nothing.

I certainly prayed, but not all the stuff I usually pray about. I didn’t read the Bible enough or review very much memorized Scripture.

I’m not legalistic about this stuff. I love doing it. Talking to God, having Scripture memorized, reading the Bible and books about it or God–I can’t get enough.

But this served to re-iterate that God, in a sense, doesn’t care so much about that. He knows how much I want to love what he loves and hate what he hates and I pray for this a lot (Phil. 4:8, 1 Peter 1:15). He answers in the affirmative (and it’s a process of course) because it’s God’s will for everyone.

Even though I think I should have made more of an effort to read the Bible more, partly because of taking refuge in God and therapeutic value, I know that this, 1-doesn’t change one bit how much God loves me and 2-that God can get along just fine without some of my prayers. I’m not that important (Daniel 4:35).

I found a good video on part of this.

HT

Here are some good things I’ve found. I’m having one of the worst weeks of my life (maybe top four) so it’s a relevant topic. This would have gone on the Suffering Christians blog before I merged it here.

Matt Chandler on suffering T4G 2010 Part 1 of 3 (YouTube)

The Pastor without a Paycheck – an interview with Randy Alcorn – this is an older familiar story but if you haven’t read it you may find it interesting. He has written some great books including If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil.

Oswald Chambers: You Are Not Your Own – from Randy Alcorn’s blog

From Dave Black Online Monday, February 21 at 7:56 PM:

In a recent email to a friend of hers, Becky likened our journey to the “Perfect Storm” that hit the East Coast in 1991. (Maybe you’ve seen the movie by the same name.) Several different weather systems, each coming from a different direction, collided off the coast of New England to produce a storm of catastrophic proportions. Of course, every storm has its silver lining. What lessons has God been trying to teach me as we’ve gone through this “Perfect Storm”? They have been many and sundry.

• Every trial is an opportunity to accept the circumstances God has placed me in  — with a thankful spirit to boot.
• Every trial is a chance to “think of yourself with sober judgment” (Rom. 12:3) — that is, to reassess my personal strengths and weaknesses and to anchor my self-worth in God rather than in my circumstances or accomplishments.
• Each of these trials has forced me to confess my pride to God and pray for the Holy Spirit to transform me from the inside out and from the bottom up. In particular, my emotions, especially my negative emotions, cause me sometimes to feel that God is distant. During these periods of doubt and self-pity, I find it helpful to focus on Scriptural promises, remembering that “God works together for good all things” (Rom. 8:28) — even my stress.
• Finally, every trial is an opportunity to learn to pace myself by becoming more pro-active in some areas of life and by slowing down in others. The goal is always a balance between “burnout” and “self-indulgence.” I find this balance harder and harder to attain the older I get. The key, of course, is walking in the Spirit — letting God show me moment by moment and even second by second what is His good, pleasing, and perfect will. It involves paying special attention to chronic fatigue, which is a sure sign of underlying stress. It is a call to exercise common sense by eating properly, getting proper rest and exercise, heeding the advice of friends, becoming aware of mood swings, and releasing past and present emotional hurts to God.

The bottom of the bottom line? Jesus never promised us a life without discouragement. Even grave discouragement. Especially if we’re living life “on the edge” for the sake of the Gospel. Mission work has more than its share of obstacles and stresses. So does normal, everyday life. The trials that Becky and I have faced have all been blessings in disguise. Some of them we just “got over,” then moved on. Others remain — defying resolution. Whatever the trial, we’re asking the Holy Spirit to help us make wise and balanced decisions. Our greatest desire is to allow God to use the severe pain and hurt we are experiencing to build our character and to make us more serviceable in His kingdom.

Also see:
How Could A Good God Allow Suffering and Evil? – an interview with Randy Alcorn, including, “You shouldn’t say certain things to people who are suffering”.

Quote of the Day: Suffering

The blessing of Affliction

Dealing with Depression, Part Two

This quote comes to me via Dave Black Online (as did the previous link). If there ever was a reason for me to learn Greek this is it. My About page explains why. See the rest of the article by Sean Winter at the linked post.

Learning New Testament Greek is not just a tool for seeing new things in the text, it is a tool for beginning to see why many of the things you have been taught to see might actually be bad interpretations.

Sean Winter, Jesus, Peter and Reading the New Testament in Greek
Learning New Testament Greek is not just a tool for seeing new things in the text, it is a tool for beginning to see why many of the things you have been taught to see might actually be bad interpretations.

Cryptotheology 2.0

How Did the Church Interpret the Days of Creation before Darwin?

Waterdrop Heart Photo (manipulated)

FAQ: Why DO bad things happen to “good” people? – amazing how much good information he gives in 2 1/2 minutes, with pointers to more

NETBibleTagger – Automatically Tag and Quote Scripture References on Your Site – This is similar to another very popular one we are used to, and uses the NET translation. Otherwise the main difference that I can see is that it will show a whole passage–even a chapter, in the pop-up window using scrollbars.

Challies.com has free desktop wallpaper

Snow storm HT: Challies

If you happen to like cats, here are some very high quality pictures. These are of all sorts breeds taken at shows. I said I wouldn’t post pictures of my cats on this blog and I’m sticking to it. However if for some reason you would want to see them, and some other stuff, there are plenty on my Flickr stream, also linked in the right column.

I’ve read people asking for “feed back” but they never gave me any feed. Feedback makes more sense on a blog.

D.A. Carson writes a chapter in his book How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil about firm structures to establish in helping Christians before suffering comes. I think this is the most important.

Above all, we must help people know God better. Too many answers we give are merely intellectual, merely theoretical, merely propositional. We must so teach and counsel and pray with people that we deepen their experiential knowledge of God. We must so get them into meditative and rigourous reading of the Word of God that they draw vast comfort from its pages. At the deepest level, men and women must learn, with Job, that God is very great, and it is an inexpressible privilege to know Him, to be satisfied with Him, even when – especially when! – we do not have all the answers. Then men and women will learn to rest in His love, and will return again and again to the Cross, where their vision of that love will be constantly renewed.

–D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil, pg. 224

Also see:
When You’re Too Tired To Pray

After writing a possibly humorous and possibly ill-timed post about David Black “running into an old friend” I thought I’d post this wonderful entry about their battle with his wife Becky’s cancer. I would like to be able to “suffer well” as they do.

Tuesday, January 18
8:24 PM We’re home! As you know, we had a very important meeting with the thoracic surgeon at UNC this afternoon. The bottom line is this: Becky’s lung tumors are inoperable. This means that surgery is no longer an option (if it ever was), just as more radiation and chemo have been ruled out as therapies since they have proven to be ineffective. There remains the possibility of treating her with a procedure called Cyber-Knife (Robotic Radiosurgery), which UNC just “happens” to specialize in. It involves shooting the larger tumors with extremely high levels of radiation. Pending approval by the Cyber-Knife committee, we are looking at this procedure taking place in about two weeks. Before that can happen, “fiducials” must be placed into Becky’s lungs by a thoracic surgeon to help the oncologists know exactly where to concentrate the radiation. We have tentatively scheduled this procedure for next week Thursday. Of course, all of this awaits the blessing of our insurance company.

How to respond? Just like Paul in Philippians! Just as Paul could write that his imprisonment had turned out for the progress of the Gospel, so Becky and I know that our cancer journey has worked out for the best and the future holds no shadows. Our one fear is that we might betray Christ by our lives and testimony. Our single desire is to live in a manner worthy of the Gospel (Phil. 1:27) – to live in a way that commends the Gospel to our friends and neighbors. We desire to be more concerned about the needs of others than our own – to be unselfish, unconceited, to take the path of obedience, to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the companionship of His sufferings. We know we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. We are confident that our God shall supply all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. On top of it all, we know that our love for Ethiopia has never diminished. No distance can weaken it and no amount of suffering can quench it.

So thanks muchly for your prayers. And for your love. After our appointment with the surgeon I took Becky out for dinner at the Outback Steak House in Durham. As we ate we thought of our many cyber friends. I told Becky, “Every time we eat at the Outback I think of Aussie John, who has been such a faithful prayer partner with us through this entire journey.” Becky replied, “Won’t heaven be wonderful, Dave? We’ll get to meet in person all of the wonderful people we only know now by name.”

All I could say was, “Amen, honey, amen.”

Christian faith does not grant immunity from sadness and sickness, from bereavement and disappointment. At least not now! Those who suggest that it does mean the present enjoyment of health and wealth and peace and prosperity appeal to the general desire for wellbeing that marks our culture. But such a story is neither true to the Bible nor to human experience.

–Alistair Begg

HT: Michael Acidri via Facebook

John 16:33 HCSB
“I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

• Depression: A Stubborn Darkness
• Denzel Washington, Martin Luther, and Our Strange Neglect of the Bible
• 7 Truths About Fear
• Book Review: In Christ Alone
  HT: NWBingham on Twitter
• How To Photograph a Flying Cat

This is a more personal type post that I’m uncomfortable with because I don’t presume that a lot of people should care about these things. But I like to read updates of what’s going on in my blogging friends’ lives and people have asked me to keep them updated on the things mentioned here.

Mental health stuff has been very difficult but steady, other than the ups and mainly downs that Bipolar depression (more of a description than an official diagnosis) presents. Sometimes pretty bad, but that’s part of the program.

I had my second back surgery over six months ago and the recovery isn’t going well. There is no improvement in pain. An extra MRI was negative and I’ll be having an extra CT scan.

I had a difficult time spiritually after surgery and my faith was really tested for the first time in a long time. God has pretty much brought me through that but I still need to learn to “suffer better” and be more prepared for things like the nightmarish hospital stay where they made a lot of mistakes. Progress on worrying less has been slow but positive. It’s a rough road though. I’m accumulating even more good books on suffering to read between other things.

I read through Proverbs several times and read it once in The Message, since it’s supposed to be decent with poetry. It was very good, although I often looked verses up in ‘regular’ translations to see what it ‘really says’. Not much to say about that. I’m still studying Proverbs in our small group Bible study and reading through Waltke’s two volume commentary which has been great. Proverbs is such an important book and now I can’t get enough of it. It helps us to learn how to learn and understand.

I’m still working on Greek. I was supposed to be done with Black’s beginning book in 2010 but I didn’t know I’d be having surgery, which really set me back. I had to go back and reread the whole book and I’m almost back to where I was.

Same thing goes for 2010 being ‘the year of the Old Testament’ for me. In addition to getting slowed down, I’ve acquired more books about the OT that I want to read, so that may take another year.

Along with that, my ‘three year plan’ will stretch out to over four years. I carefully read each book of the New Testament and also a healthy commentary for each, which I love doing, and need to go back and read a couple of whoppers on Luke and Acts. Then I’ll be done with that. Obviously no real exegesis (in-depth study) on my part but just to get any gross misinterpretations out of the way and becoming more familiar with the NT which is part of my three year plan. I intend to study Colossians as in-depth as I can at some point. I’m contemplating on whether I should take the time to read a big commentary on Genesis. There don’t seem to be as many gross misinterpretations to sift through but it’s so foundational for creation, original sin, covenants, God’s sovereignty etc.

I plan on reading most of the OT again this year (all of it last year) and try reading a book of the Bible 20x. I’ve already read Proverbs 6-7 times so I may keep going with that and a short book of the NT. Next year or before I want to start a custom plan that I’m making or one of the other plans. I don’t feel a need to do one of these plans every year. But I now make sure I read the Bible everyday.

I’ve now decided to switch my main translation from the HCSB (I call it the NIV, tailored to me) to the REB. It’s just too good, and it’s not the same old. Secondary, which is a dynamic equivalent or what used to be called thought for thought is the NLT but I’m toying with God’s Word (for the Nations). The NLT will always be special, especially the Mosaic edition.

I’m so thankful for all of my blogging friends. If I didn’t have any, this wouldn’t be worth it.

I better stop there.

Trials and Suffering at Isaac’s Musings

Christian Carnival CCCLV at who am i?

2010 in photos at boston.com (some are disturbing)

In the Mail at THEOparadox

I now partially agree with the last one. I think it’s better use of readers’ time to write about books that the blogger is reading or has read unless a specific list or question about it is relevant.

I participate in a home coffee roasting (no, it’s not illegal as Dr. Jim West might think) bulletin board. It’s very frustrating to read about someone who just bought some green (unroasted) coffee beans and then says, “I can’t wait to roast these tomorrow night!” Well thanks for wasting my time! How about wait a few days and tell us how you like it?

Click for a larger one

Photo ©Jeff Oien
I cannot offer this as a Free Photo

Review: Nancy Guthrie. Be Still, My Soul: Embracing God’s Purpose and Provision in Suffering.

I didn’t realize this was a collaborative effort with contributors such as Tim Keller, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, D.A. Carson, Joni Eareckson Tada and more. I already had this on my list but it just went higher.

Be Still, My Soul: Embracing God’s Purpose and Provision in Suffering

• One Year Later – Matt Chandler’s battle with cancer
  HT: Between Two Worlds
• Various translations of Psalm 23 in PDF format – See the Introduction page for the purpose
• 10 Ways the Doctrine of Suffering Is Mistaught
• TC let’s us know about Another Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians which looks to be very interesting and more to my level than Longenecker’s, which was too much for me. See all four of the commentaries in this series.
• The correct URL for God’s Word translation is www.godswordtranslation.org
• Where is God When We Suffer?

The last one is video Acidri’s Blog brings us that you may have seen. The absolute sovereignty of God is a counter-intuitive comfort once God showed it to me. When I get in the “dark valley” and am having deep trouble with the difficulties with mental and physical health, I always go to Psalm 139:13-16 which the man in the video alludes to at one point.

I’m so impressed with his knowledge of Scripture and you can see how important Scripture memory is for him.

The universal prevalence of sickness is one of the indirect evidences that the Bible is true. The Bible explains it. The Bible answers the questions about it which will arise in every inquiring mind. No other systems of religion can do this. They all fail here. They are silent. They are confounded. The Bible alone looks the subject in the face. It boldly proclaims the fact that man is a fallen creature, and with equal boldness proclaims a vast remedial system to meet his wants. I feel shut up to the conclusion that the Bible is from God. Christianity is a revelation from heaven. “Thy word is truth.” (John 17:17)

–J.C. Ryle, Sickness (Sermon)

I wanted to go back and read my post on birthdays from two years ago which was originally on the old Suffering Christians blog, which I reposted last year and thought I would repost it here yet again if it should happen to be encouraging for anyone.

——————

For most of my adult life I’ve hated it when my birthday comes around. Suffering from mental health ailments which also have physical effects have made life difficult. In addition, my back has developed degenerative conditions over the last few years. [Edit: Two surgeries now and still in pain.] I’ve had to give up quite a few things like being a musician, people photographer, many various forms of exercise I’ve been so serious about since middle school years, etc. (I still do what little exercise I can.)

There are a few reasons I don’t like my birthdays, the main one being that I (used to) wish I hadn’t been born. Life is too difficult and this world is fraught with evil and suffering. I seem to see the world through darkly colored glasses.

Last year [2007] at this time I was starting to feel “the dread” because I always get more depressed as it gets closer.

At that time I was going through 2 Corinthians and was looking closely at 4:17 which I’m familiar with in the NIV:

2 Corinthians 4:17 NIV
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

But looking at the verse in other translations gave me a fresh perspective:

2 Corinthians 4:17 NASB
For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

2 Corinthians 4:17 NRSV
For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,

If I were to say that the glory in heaven will be 900 trillion tons and our suffering here, as bad as it can be (and I know mine is much less than many), is like one tenth of a gram, that wouldn’t show enough of a difference because that isn’t “beyond all measure.” [Too literal? I doubt it.]

So last year God was teaching me to hope for heaven—when we are clothed with our heavenly bodies (1 Corinthians 15:53-54 {put cursor over Scripture reference}) and dwell in the new heaven and the new earth (2 Peter 3:13)—and have faith that when that time comes around, it will have been more than worth it and I will be very glad that I was born so that I could be with God forever seeing Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).

It doesn’t make this life much easier but I need to ask God to give me the grace to have faith that it will be as He says it will be (2 Corinthians 1:20-22) and experience the hope for heaven in this life.

This year God is teaching me that it is His will for me to have been born and to live for Him. In the past, I knew it was His will for me to stay alive. Not to be morbid but what I mean is not to kill myself. That isn’t for me to decide, as much as I wanted to at some points in the past. But now, more than that, He’s teaching me that it’s His will for me to have been born in the first place (Psalm 139:16). And it is His will for me to be born again (John 1:13).

I’ve come to embrace this with joy, even if I don’t usually feel happy. And I’m certain that without suffering God wouldn’t have matured me spiritually as He has so far.

I’m taking a big risk in writing this personal information. Spurgeon and Luther were candid so why shouldn’t I be? I’m certain many of my blogging friends are or were in a place of similar or greater suffering. Some aren’t able to disclose for many reasons.

I’m not writing this for sympathy because I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to grow more than most and as worldly things have fallen away, my zeal for God and getting to know Him through Scripture has increased exponentially.

God works through suffering and I thought I’d write briefly about it here. It’s definitely a subject of interest for me. (I almost wrote that it’s one of my favorite subjects. That’s not quite the right way of putting it!)

My wife has gotten more and more supportive and we’ve grown closer which I’m so thankful for because most of the time it goes the other way.

I’m not much for “Happy Birthdays” but if you’d like to give me a present (other than a book of course*) nothing would be better than praying that God would continue to teach me about Himself (Ephesians 1:17) and to find more and more joy in this (Romans 15:13).

My prayer for anyone reading this post:

Hebrews 13:20-21
Now may the God of peace—
who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great Shepherd of the sheep,
and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—
may he equip you with all you need
for doing his will.
May he produce in you,
through the power of Jesus Christ,
every good thing that is pleasing to him.

All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.

I hope this post isn’t too self-centered. I’d like to read it a year from now [or each year as a reminder] and thought it might be of benefit to someone else out there.

*This is what pathetic bibliobloggers do–ask for books. We can’t help it.

Joni Eareckson Tada on Something Greater than Healing

She has a new book coming out where she explains her theology of suffering. I put this on my wish list.

This is something I would have linked to on the Suffering Christians blog which has merged into this one.

Suffering from Hammer and Nail
He writes about persecution, his kids’ health problems and suffering in general.