Text: John 16:1-15
Prayer Pointers:
For growth during suffering
For those who must make hard decisions
For those in sorrow
Suffering, never an easy topic, is a terribly hard one in our current world. We do not understand suffering in a world that promises perpetual triumph and pleasure; we especially do not understand suffering we did not choose. We can suffer for a moment, a time in pursuit of our own projects, but we are hard pressed to see the value, the potential in suffering that comes to us from outside.
I have in mind a comment by a lecturer I once heard, who said:
“Perhaps it is too much to ask any of us to always cherish what the Lord is doing in our lives; but I don’t think that it is too much for us to pray that we not waste what the Lord is doing in our lives. If the Lord is trustworthy (and he is), then it is as Paul says ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).’ So maybe that means that we do nothing more than lay aside the self-pity, or the resentment, or whatever other dark thought might arise, and trust that, in Jesus’ name, even this isn’t a waste.”
Nothing done in Jesus’ name is ever wasted.
Easter joy ~ Pr. Dave Brooks