Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Suffering and Relationship

Jesus is calling for a radical orientation on God himself. He is pushing us to have a real, utterly authentic, personal relationship with God. If God is not real to us—personally, vitally real to us—it will be miserable to endure something difficult with God alone as the one who knows. It will all seem very pointless, because the whole range of horizontal possibilities will be nullified since no one knows what we are going through. All that matters is God, and who he is, and what he thinks, and what he will do. (Piper, John. A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1997. Print. 75)

I found this quote by Piper eye-opening; suffering in a godly manner necessitates we have an authentic relationship with God. Falling back on 'the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away' offers us nothing if we do not have a real-a really real-relationship with our Sovereign. All things working together for good is promised to those who love God. I want to press into to God, to know Him and be known by Him, so that when suffering comes, and come it will, there will be a truly authentic relationship between me and the One who died for me and the One whom I love who will cause all things to work for good for me.

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