Comfort in affliction

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

Happy Storm, O Blessed Hurricane

I have been reading a lot lately, the majority of it has not been on suffering and theology, though it probably seems like I have because the last two posts mention quotes related to suffering. Truth is I came across this quote as I was reading through the blogs I frequent and it was too good to pass up.

“On My arm, they shall trust.” Isaiah 51:5

In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is quickly sinking, and no human deliverance can avail—he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God.

Happy storm—that wrecks a man on such a rock as this!

O blessed hurricane—that drives the soul to God and God alone!

When a man is so burdened with troubles, so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn—he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! Oh, tempest-tossed believer—it is a happy trouble which drives you to your Father! –Charles Spurgeon

(HT: Erik Raymond)

Where is God amid so much suffering?

"So where is God amid so much suffering? Hanging on the cross, bearing in his own body the curse of his own law, drinking the cup of wrath and the venom of our sin and death. Even though we cannot see God's sovereignty and goodness reconciled in holocausts, tsunamis, hurricanes, and fires, here the harmony is empirically verifiable! God is neither aloof to our suffering nor powerless to intervene.

No one has ever suffered more unjustly at our hands than this sinless God-Man, and yet he was 'delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God' (Acts 2:23). We can be assured that in the crises we face, large and small, God works all things together for good (see Romans 8:28) because God's strength has once and for all been made perfect in weakness. The unity of God's sovereignty and goodness that will be fully disclosed on that last day has already dawned decisively in the work of Christ. God has triumphed over the serpent, sin, death, evil, and tragedy. 'It is finished!' Jesus cried. Our victory is assured, thought we walk through the valley of death's shadow (Psalm 23:4). In fact, in this famous psalm of comfort in distress, we can say 'i will fear no evil, for you are with me your rod and your staff, they comfort me.'"

-A quote from A Place for Weakness by Michael Horton

Building Homes and the Gospel Proclamation

I'm currently sitting at my desk catching up on weekend emails, the sounds of weed eaters buzzing outside the window, and sitting here amazed that over 5 years after the storm the Lord is still sending people to the gulf coast and specifically Lakeshore Baptist Church.

It sometimes just hits me that what the Lord is doing here is bigger than I could have ever imagined being possible by a church of around 30 members. Thousands upon thousands of volunteers have filtered through, 38 homes from the ground up have been built, over 100 homes rehabbed, hundreds of sheds built in the early days after the storm, countless cans of food and articles of clothing have been given out in the distribution center, and tons and tons of storm debris gutted from homes and pulled from yards. This is all amazing and we can't help but point to God and give Him the glory.

Yet, while that is all great, we do not want to pull away from the gospel itself. If we just build someone a home and neglect the gospel we just give them a comfortable place to go to hell from. I can say without hesitation that Lakeshore Baptist Church, while we desire to physically help people, sees the immense need for the gospel in our community and our hearts are burdened to see that the gospel message goes out.

I am blessed to be apart of this church, where you can count on hearing the gospel proclaimed from the pulpit and from behind a shovel or while hanging a piece of sheetrock, or while framing a home. The gospel can be heard while sitting in the distribution center and people talk and encourage one another or while a couple of men sit on the tailgate of a pick up truck. The Lord has used His children at LBC and volunteers who have partnered with us to spread that good news and the He has used that to draw people to himself. I rejoice at the lives that have turned to Christ and repented of their sin as the Lord has worked in their hearts. I look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store as believers committed to sharing the gospel are faithful to do so.

Singleness a blessing or a curse?

Singleness for some it's the plague others it's the best thing to ever to have happened to them. In all honestly many days I don't struggle with being single, knowing singleness is a gift. But there are days sometimes weeks the loneliness, the rejection, the shame, the lack of physical intimacy are all too real and it hurts.

It is rare, I think and at least in my personal experience, for singles to think of their singleness as a blessing. But just yesterday I stumbled across a blog, thoughts from Fabs, looking at the struggles or blessings of singleness. Fabs makes a great case that loneliness, freedom, control, pain of rejection, lack of physical intimacy, and shame are blessings. Fabs points to the cross and the grace of God, not dwelling on the hurt or wallowing in the self-pity, jealousy, or bitterness.

Below I've linked to each individual post in Fab's series on the blessings of singleness, I hope you find these as helpful as they were to me.

Some Talks on Singleness
Blessings of Singleness #1: Loneliness
Blessings of Singleness #2: The Pain of Freedom
Blessings of Singleness #3: Losing Control
Blessings of Singleness #4: The Pain of Rejection
Blessings of Singleness #5: Lack of Physical Intimacy
Blessings of Singleness #6: The Pain of Misplaced Shame

By This We Know Love

Summer has come and gone since the last blog post and I'm not really feeling too bad about that. It was a great and busy summer in Lakeshore and we are looking forward to the fall. My support I have been trying to raise for my time in Lakeshore has gone pretty well so far. Lord willing I will be updating everyone on that soon.

For the time being I want to share with you one of my new favorite songs. It's not really new, but new to me. This video is from the 2009 NEXT conference

By This We Know Love
Judah Groveman

God of all Creation, Lord of heaven's light
Descended into evil's darkest night
Infinitely Holy, Your perfections know no end
Selflessly You died my rightful death

By this we know love that He laid down His life
God's very own Son, came from Heaven to die
Suspended He hung, as he shed His own blood
What grace in His pardon, by this We know love

Forsaken man of sorrows, hated by all men
You willingly surrendered for my sin
Scornfully derided, yet in silence stumbling on
Bearing wrath for all that I've done wrong.

By this we know love that He laid down His life
God's very own Son, came from Heaven to die
Suspended He hung, as he shed His own blood
What grace in His pardon, by this We know love