Soul Keeping Small Group Bible Study by John Ortberg - Session One
Friday, October 2, 2015
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Putin vs. Obama and the other main storylines at the U.N. General Assembly
By Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, September 28, 2015
Autumn in Manhattan: The leaves are turning, there’s a chill in the breeze, the traffic is once again snarled on the east side, and convoys of black SUVs flank the entrances of the city’s toniest hotels. Yes, the United Nations’ General Assembly is in session. Here are the key narratives to track.
Putin’s power play. President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin were set to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly on Monday. Well before the two addressed the chamber filled with world leaders and dignitaries, the contours of their disagreements were clear.
In his Monday morning speech, Obama denounced Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, a Black Sea territory that most governments recognize as part of Ukraine. He also signaled his concern with Russia’s recent military escalation in Syria in defense of the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad and warned that there “cannot be … a return to the pre-war status quo”–that is, as the United States has insisted in the past, Assad must go.
Putin didn’t equivocate on the matter, either. Russia is a staunch and longtime ally of the Syrian government. In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” he said that the aid provided by the United States and a number of other countries to rebel factions fighting the Assad regime “contravenes the principles of international law and the U.N. Charter.”
Putin, whose government is widely seen as the main actor behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, said Russia backs “only legal government entities.”
Obama’s speech was framed around sober, liberal themes: the need for multilateralism when addressing global challenges, the limits of military power, the importance of strengthening inclusive, democratic institutions in every country and the perfidy of domineering strongmen. These were all, in some sense, direct or indirect jabs at Putin’s authoritarian politics.
Putin responded in kind later in the day. He gestured at the U.S. track record of intervention in the Middle East, and the anarchy unleashed following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He framed the 2011 upheavals of the Arab Spring–which were celebrated as a democratic awakening by the White House–as a threat to Middle Eastern stability. He asked “those responsible” (presumably the U.S.): “Do you know what you’ve done?”
Putin also said Russia was eager to take more of a lead role in coordinating a response to the terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria, a cause in which it has backing from Iran.
Iran’s moment. This is the first General Assembly session following the July announcement of a proposed nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Obama hailed the agreement at the U.N. as a victory for the prevailing international order that makes “our world safer.”
The deal faced a heated backlash in Washington, with many congressional Republicans and neo-conservatives decrying what they considered appeasement to a regime long at odds with the United States. They failed to rally enough support against the deal in the U.S. Senate and its passage now appears to be a fait accompli.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has pinned his political fate on the deal, which will eventually see the loosening of sanctions on the Iranian economy in return for Tehran complying with measures aimed at curbing its ability to produce a nuclear weapon.
In an interview with CNN, Rouhani mocked the opponents of diplomacy. “Some of them wouldn’t even know where Tehran was in relation to Iran,” he said. “Some of them didn’t know where Iran was geographically, not distinguishing that one is the capital of the other.”
On Monday, Rouhani said the deal was a “victory over war,” championed Iran’s future economic prospects and launched his own barb at Israel, singling out the “Zionist regime” as the Middle East’s only nuclear power while calling for regional non-proliferation.
Who sounds most like the pope? Pope Francis left the United States before a blood moon rose in the night sky, but his whirlwind visit still casts a shadow on the meetings at the U.N. The pontiff spoke passionately about a number of key international crises: the threat of climate change; the perils of growing global economic inequity; the imperative to welcome immigrants and refugees.
Expect quite a few of these themes to be echoed in the speeches of the General Assembly, particularly regarding the refugee crisis facing Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, perhaps the most outspoken world leader on the need to provide for Syrian refugees, is scheduled to speak Thursday.
The question of Palestine. On Wednesday, the flag of Palestine will be raised among the other 193 member states of the United Nations. Hundreds of world leaders have been invited by the Palestinians to attend the ceremony; the United States, Israel and a handful of other nations will be sure to boycott the event.
Palestine, like the Holy See, has non-member observer status at the U.N., but a recent General Assembly resolution permitted its flag to be flown outside the organization. The raising of the flag will mark a “glorious day,” according to the Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour.
Like much of the enfeebled Palestinian efforts to force the matter of Palestinian statehood on the international stage, it is a purely symbolic gesture. On the ground, a separate, viable Palestinian state is nowhere in sight. And its potential existence is rejected by senior members of the current right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Among many governments in the West, there is deepening frustration with the current status quo, and a host of European countries took steps to recognize Palestine as an independent state in recent years. But there is also a creeping apathy. Obama, in his remarks Monday, made no mention whatsoever of Israel and the Palestinians–a conspicuous absence for any U.S. president addressing the U.N.
Autumn in Manhattan: The leaves are turning, there’s a chill in the breeze, the traffic is once again snarled on the east side, and convoys of black SUVs flank the entrances of the city’s toniest hotels. Yes, the United Nations’ General Assembly is in session. Here are the key narratives to track.
Putin’s power play. President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin were set to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly on Monday. Well before the two addressed the chamber filled with world leaders and dignitaries, the contours of their disagreements were clear.
In his Monday morning speech, Obama denounced Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, a Black Sea territory that most governments recognize as part of Ukraine. He also signaled his concern with Russia’s recent military escalation in Syria in defense of the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad and warned that there “cannot be … a return to the pre-war status quo”–that is, as the United States has insisted in the past, Assad must go.
Putin didn’t equivocate on the matter, either. Russia is a staunch and longtime ally of the Syrian government. In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” he said that the aid provided by the United States and a number of other countries to rebel factions fighting the Assad regime “contravenes the principles of international law and the U.N. Charter.”
Putin, whose government is widely seen as the main actor behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, said Russia backs “only legal government entities.”
Obama’s speech was framed around sober, liberal themes: the need for multilateralism when addressing global challenges, the limits of military power, the importance of strengthening inclusive, democratic institutions in every country and the perfidy of domineering strongmen. These were all, in some sense, direct or indirect jabs at Putin’s authoritarian politics.
Putin responded in kind later in the day. He gestured at the U.S. track record of intervention in the Middle East, and the anarchy unleashed following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He framed the 2011 upheavals of the Arab Spring–which were celebrated as a democratic awakening by the White House–as a threat to Middle Eastern stability. He asked “those responsible” (presumably the U.S.): “Do you know what you’ve done?”
Putin also said Russia was eager to take more of a lead role in coordinating a response to the terrorist threat in Iraq and Syria, a cause in which it has backing from Iran.
Iran’s moment. This is the first General Assembly session following the July announcement of a proposed nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Obama hailed the agreement at the U.N. as a victory for the prevailing international order that makes “our world safer.”
The deal faced a heated backlash in Washington, with many congressional Republicans and neo-conservatives decrying what they considered appeasement to a regime long at odds with the United States. They failed to rally enough support against the deal in the U.S. Senate and its passage now appears to be a fait accompli.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has pinned his political fate on the deal, which will eventually see the loosening of sanctions on the Iranian economy in return for Tehran complying with measures aimed at curbing its ability to produce a nuclear weapon.
In an interview with CNN, Rouhani mocked the opponents of diplomacy. “Some of them wouldn’t even know where Tehran was in relation to Iran,” he said. “Some of them didn’t know where Iran was geographically, not distinguishing that one is the capital of the other.”
On Monday, Rouhani said the deal was a “victory over war,” championed Iran’s future economic prospects and launched his own barb at Israel, singling out the “Zionist regime” as the Middle East’s only nuclear power while calling for regional non-proliferation.
Who sounds most like the pope? Pope Francis left the United States before a blood moon rose in the night sky, but his whirlwind visit still casts a shadow on the meetings at the U.N. The pontiff spoke passionately about a number of key international crises: the threat of climate change; the perils of growing global economic inequity; the imperative to welcome immigrants and refugees.
Expect quite a few of these themes to be echoed in the speeches of the General Assembly, particularly regarding the refugee crisis facing Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, perhaps the most outspoken world leader on the need to provide for Syrian refugees, is scheduled to speak Thursday.
The question of Palestine. On Wednesday, the flag of Palestine will be raised among the other 193 member states of the United Nations. Hundreds of world leaders have been invited by the Palestinians to attend the ceremony; the United States, Israel and a handful of other nations will be sure to boycott the event.
Palestine, like the Holy See, has non-member observer status at the U.N., but a recent General Assembly resolution permitted its flag to be flown outside the organization. The raising of the flag will mark a “glorious day,” according to the Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour.
Like much of the enfeebled Palestinian efforts to force the matter of Palestinian statehood on the international stage, it is a purely symbolic gesture. On the ground, a separate, viable Palestinian state is nowhere in sight. And its potential existence is rejected by senior members of the current right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Among many governments in the West, there is deepening frustration with the current status quo, and a host of European countries took steps to recognize Palestine as an independent state in recent years. But there is also a creeping apathy. Obama, in his remarks Monday, made no mention whatsoever of Israel and the Palestinians–a conspicuous absence for any U.S. president addressing the U.N.
Tesouros Ocultos
Link
Palavras de Jesus
Bendito seja o Deus e Pai de nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, Pai das misericórdias e Deus de toda consolação, que nos consola em todas as nossas tribulações, para que, com a consolação que recebemos de Deus, possamos consolar os que estão passando por tribulações. Pois assim como os sofrimentos de Cristo transbordam sobre nós, também por meio de Cristo transborda a nossa consolação.[1]
Irmãos, não queremos que vocês desconheçam as tribulações que sofremos... as quais foram muito além da nossa capacidade de suportar, a ponto de perdermos a esperança da própria vida. De fato, já tÃnhamos sobre nós a sentença de morte, para que não confiássemos em nós mesmos, mas em Deus, que ressuscita os mortos. Ele nos livrou e continuará nos livrando de tal perigo de morte. Nele temos colocado a nossa esperança. — 2 CorÃntios 1:3–5, 8–10[2]
Eis os tesouros ocultos nas trevas, enterrados bem no fundo da Minha mina! Assim como o minerador vai para as profundezas da terra e sacrifica o seu desejo por luz e calor, preferindo trabalhar na escuridão da mina e suportar o pó e a sujeira, ficar confinado em um local apertado, ter dor nas costas e nos músculos para poder trabalhar procurando gemas preciosas escondidas debaixo da terra, nas minas, assim é você. Neste momento, você se encontra num local difÃcil, procura a luz do sol, deseja poder respirar um pouco de ar puro, sente-se confinado, sem fôlego e meio asfixiado por causa do ar viciado, e anseia por uma mão que se estenda para o ajudar.
Não esmoreça nem desanime, pois nesse local aparentemente escuro você encontrará tesouros inestimáveis, mais valiosos do que qualquer outro! Este perÃodo não vai ser longo. Não vai durar para sempre. É apenas por um tempo, apenas por um momento. Então, não se canse de fazer o bem. Não se canse do lugar onde se encontra agora, pois aà você está aprendendo a se apoiar em Mim. Você está aprendendo a ficar nos Meus braços, perto de Mim, onde pode encontrar a força que precisa para continuar.
Não desanime nem esmoreça, e não se considere um fracasso. Não pense que Eu não te amo. Eu te amo e tenho um grande carinho por você. Eu o observo cada momento do dia! Ouço cada vez que você chama e todas as suas orações. Vejo cada lágrima que derrama. Estou sempre aqui para lhe dar forças e ajudar.
Então não se preocupe. Você não está fora do cÃrculo do Meu Amor, mas bem no centro do Meu Amor. Eu nunca o deixarei nem desampararei. Eu nunca falharei a você. Cumprirei o Meu propósito na sua vida.
*
Esqueça o passado
Minha preciosidade! Deixe o fardo e os pesos do passado. Perdoe-se pelos seus erros passados e aceite o perdão que outros lhe dão. Não se preocupe pensando como as coisas teriam sido diferentes ou como poderiam ter sido melhores caso você tivesse feito isto ou aquilo. Esse conflito, essa indecisão e esse sentimento de culpa e remorso quanto ao passado são pesos e fardos que você carrega desnecessariamente.
Esqueça o passado e encontre fé e tranquilidade, sabendo que Eu tenho o Meu plano perfeito para a sua vida. Eu sou o grande Pastor, e você não tem o que temer. Usei todas as experiências da sua vida para transformar você na pessoa que é agora.
Você teve que conhecer alegria e tristeza, luz e trevas, dor e felicidade, perda e ganho, derrota e vitória, para poder aprender a ter dó, a ter compaixão e compreensão. Isto aconteceu para você poder entender os outros, para poder se colocar no lugar deles e dizer: "Sim, eu sei como você se sente. Eu sei como é. Já estive numa situação assim. Eu também já passei por isso. Sei como é difÃcil."
Você pode ensinar outros a encontrarem fé, esperança e coragem, porque já viu a Minha ajuda nos momentos difÃceis. Você sabe que há uma luz no final do túnel, porque já a viu e já passou por esse túnel. Você sabe que vale a pena continuar lutando e não desistir, porque já passou por isso.
*
Eu entendo a provação do coração dos homens, o grau de desespero e de desencorajamento. Eu compreendo o grau de renúncia, pois primeiro Eu tive que renunciar a Meu Pai para ir para a Terra. Depois tive que renunciar àqueles que tanto amava para regressar para o Meu Pai.
Eu entendo a profundeza da dor e da aflição, pois Eu gritei de dor quando os pregos perfuraram as Minhas mãos e os Meus pés. Sei como é ser abandonado por aqueles que Me amavam, sim, até pelo Meu próprio Pai, e por isso gritei: "Meu Deus! Meu Deus! Por que Me desamparaste?"”[3]
Eu entendo o medo profundo, o medo de encarar aquilo que está pela frente por causa da dor e da angústia que trará. E por isso Eu disse: "Pai, passa de Mim este cálice".[4]
Eu entendo a profundeza da sensação de perda quando aqueles que Me amavam mais Me abandonaram quando fui levado cativo. E conheço a profundeza da mágoa de ver alguém que amamos nos trair, como Judas Me traiu com um beijo.
Porventura não sou um sumo sacerdote que Se compadece das suas fraquezas?[5]Fico de coração partido ao ver sua dor e ver você batalhando e passando pelo fogo da provação e pelo teste da purificação. — Quando se sente tão sem esperança, perdido, abandonado; quando se agarra com toda a sua força e ainda assim sente que não existe mais nada a que se agarrar.
Embora o Meu Pai não tenha passado este cálice de Mim, e embora Eu tenha visto os Meus entes queridos fugirem do Meu lado na hora da angústia, e aquele que Eu amava Me trair, e embora os pregos tenham perfurado Minhas mãos e pés, e embora Eu tenha levado muitas chicotadas, e sentido que Meu Pai Me abandonara, e embora tenha tido que passar pela morte, ainda assim tudo isso gerou uma vitória enorme, uma renovação enorme, uma salvação enorme!
Pois embora tenha parecido uma derrota Eu ser chicoteado e açoitado, ser coroado de espinhos e pregado numa cruz, e apesar de Eu ter clamado: "Meu Deus! Meu Deus! Por que Me desamparaste?" o Meu Pai Me guardou e Me deu uma grande ressurreição que mudou o curso da História e toda a eternidade.
Embora tudo pareça tenebroso e você não consiga ver, sabe que está envolto nos Meus braços. Eu lhe peço para confiar em Mim quando estiver nas profundezas, para confiar em Mim na hora do desespero, para confiar em Mim na sua dor, quando tiver que renunciar, pois Eu faço tudo bem e ajo na sua vida com amor. Se estiver disposto a beber deste cálice, se estiver disposto a dizer: "Não se faça a minha vontade, mas a Tua"[6], também terá uma gloriosa ressurreição que ultrapassará tudo o que você conhece!
*
Antes da fundação do mundo
Você é o Meu filho amado. Eu o escolhi antes da fundação do mundo para trilhar Comigo caminhos criados especificamente para você. Concentre-se em Me acompanhar em vez de querer adivinhar Meus planos para a sua vida. Se confiar que tenho planos de prosperá-lo e não lhe causar mal, conseguirá relaxar e desfrutar o momento.
A sua esperança e o seu futuro estão arraigados no Céu, onde o êxtase eterno lhe está reservado. Nada tirará de você a sua herança de riquezas inconcebÃveis e bem estar. Às vezes, lhe permito vislumbres do seu glorioso futuro para encorajá-lo e incitá-lo a seguir adiante. Mas o seu fogo principal deveria ser ficar perto de Mim. Eu determino o ritmo de acordo com suas necessidades e Meus desÃgnios.[7]
Publicado originalmente em 1997, salvo indicação contrária. Adaptado e republicado em março 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli. Revisão Denise Oliveira.
[1] NIV.
[2] NIV.
[3] Mateus 27:46.
[4] Mateus 26:39.
[5] Hebreus 4:15.
[6] Mateus 26:39.
[7] Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
Palavras de Jesus
Bendito seja o Deus e Pai de nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo, Pai das misericórdias e Deus de toda consolação, que nos consola em todas as nossas tribulações, para que, com a consolação que recebemos de Deus, possamos consolar os que estão passando por tribulações. Pois assim como os sofrimentos de Cristo transbordam sobre nós, também por meio de Cristo transborda a nossa consolação.[1]
Irmãos, não queremos que vocês desconheçam as tribulações que sofremos... as quais foram muito além da nossa capacidade de suportar, a ponto de perdermos a esperança da própria vida. De fato, já tÃnhamos sobre nós a sentença de morte, para que não confiássemos em nós mesmos, mas em Deus, que ressuscita os mortos. Ele nos livrou e continuará nos livrando de tal perigo de morte. Nele temos colocado a nossa esperança. — 2 CorÃntios 1:3–5, 8–10[2]
Eis os tesouros ocultos nas trevas, enterrados bem no fundo da Minha mina! Assim como o minerador vai para as profundezas da terra e sacrifica o seu desejo por luz e calor, preferindo trabalhar na escuridão da mina e suportar o pó e a sujeira, ficar confinado em um local apertado, ter dor nas costas e nos músculos para poder trabalhar procurando gemas preciosas escondidas debaixo da terra, nas minas, assim é você. Neste momento, você se encontra num local difÃcil, procura a luz do sol, deseja poder respirar um pouco de ar puro, sente-se confinado, sem fôlego e meio asfixiado por causa do ar viciado, e anseia por uma mão que se estenda para o ajudar.
Não esmoreça nem desanime, pois nesse local aparentemente escuro você encontrará tesouros inestimáveis, mais valiosos do que qualquer outro! Este perÃodo não vai ser longo. Não vai durar para sempre. É apenas por um tempo, apenas por um momento. Então, não se canse de fazer o bem. Não se canse do lugar onde se encontra agora, pois aà você está aprendendo a se apoiar em Mim. Você está aprendendo a ficar nos Meus braços, perto de Mim, onde pode encontrar a força que precisa para continuar.
Não desanime nem esmoreça, e não se considere um fracasso. Não pense que Eu não te amo. Eu te amo e tenho um grande carinho por você. Eu o observo cada momento do dia! Ouço cada vez que você chama e todas as suas orações. Vejo cada lágrima que derrama. Estou sempre aqui para lhe dar forças e ajudar.
Então não se preocupe. Você não está fora do cÃrculo do Meu Amor, mas bem no centro do Meu Amor. Eu nunca o deixarei nem desampararei. Eu nunca falharei a você. Cumprirei o Meu propósito na sua vida.
*
Esqueça o passado
Minha preciosidade! Deixe o fardo e os pesos do passado. Perdoe-se pelos seus erros passados e aceite o perdão que outros lhe dão. Não se preocupe pensando como as coisas teriam sido diferentes ou como poderiam ter sido melhores caso você tivesse feito isto ou aquilo. Esse conflito, essa indecisão e esse sentimento de culpa e remorso quanto ao passado são pesos e fardos que você carrega desnecessariamente.
Esqueça o passado e encontre fé e tranquilidade, sabendo que Eu tenho o Meu plano perfeito para a sua vida. Eu sou o grande Pastor, e você não tem o que temer. Usei todas as experiências da sua vida para transformar você na pessoa que é agora.
Você teve que conhecer alegria e tristeza, luz e trevas, dor e felicidade, perda e ganho, derrota e vitória, para poder aprender a ter dó, a ter compaixão e compreensão. Isto aconteceu para você poder entender os outros, para poder se colocar no lugar deles e dizer: "Sim, eu sei como você se sente. Eu sei como é. Já estive numa situação assim. Eu também já passei por isso. Sei como é difÃcil."
Você pode ensinar outros a encontrarem fé, esperança e coragem, porque já viu a Minha ajuda nos momentos difÃceis. Você sabe que há uma luz no final do túnel, porque já a viu e já passou por esse túnel. Você sabe que vale a pena continuar lutando e não desistir, porque já passou por isso.
*
Eu entendo a provação do coração dos homens, o grau de desespero e de desencorajamento. Eu compreendo o grau de renúncia, pois primeiro Eu tive que renunciar a Meu Pai para ir para a Terra. Depois tive que renunciar àqueles que tanto amava para regressar para o Meu Pai.
Eu entendo a profundeza da dor e da aflição, pois Eu gritei de dor quando os pregos perfuraram as Minhas mãos e os Meus pés. Sei como é ser abandonado por aqueles que Me amavam, sim, até pelo Meu próprio Pai, e por isso gritei: "Meu Deus! Meu Deus! Por que Me desamparaste?"”[3]
Eu entendo o medo profundo, o medo de encarar aquilo que está pela frente por causa da dor e da angústia que trará. E por isso Eu disse: "Pai, passa de Mim este cálice".[4]
Eu entendo a profundeza da sensação de perda quando aqueles que Me amavam mais Me abandonaram quando fui levado cativo. E conheço a profundeza da mágoa de ver alguém que amamos nos trair, como Judas Me traiu com um beijo.
Porventura não sou um sumo sacerdote que Se compadece das suas fraquezas?[5]Fico de coração partido ao ver sua dor e ver você batalhando e passando pelo fogo da provação e pelo teste da purificação. — Quando se sente tão sem esperança, perdido, abandonado; quando se agarra com toda a sua força e ainda assim sente que não existe mais nada a que se agarrar.
Embora o Meu Pai não tenha passado este cálice de Mim, e embora Eu tenha visto os Meus entes queridos fugirem do Meu lado na hora da angústia, e aquele que Eu amava Me trair, e embora os pregos tenham perfurado Minhas mãos e pés, e embora Eu tenha levado muitas chicotadas, e sentido que Meu Pai Me abandonara, e embora tenha tido que passar pela morte, ainda assim tudo isso gerou uma vitória enorme, uma renovação enorme, uma salvação enorme!
Pois embora tenha parecido uma derrota Eu ser chicoteado e açoitado, ser coroado de espinhos e pregado numa cruz, e apesar de Eu ter clamado: "Meu Deus! Meu Deus! Por que Me desamparaste?" o Meu Pai Me guardou e Me deu uma grande ressurreição que mudou o curso da História e toda a eternidade.
Embora tudo pareça tenebroso e você não consiga ver, sabe que está envolto nos Meus braços. Eu lhe peço para confiar em Mim quando estiver nas profundezas, para confiar em Mim na hora do desespero, para confiar em Mim na sua dor, quando tiver que renunciar, pois Eu faço tudo bem e ajo na sua vida com amor. Se estiver disposto a beber deste cálice, se estiver disposto a dizer: "Não se faça a minha vontade, mas a Tua"[6], também terá uma gloriosa ressurreição que ultrapassará tudo o que você conhece!
*
Antes da fundação do mundo
Você é o Meu filho amado. Eu o escolhi antes da fundação do mundo para trilhar Comigo caminhos criados especificamente para você. Concentre-se em Me acompanhar em vez de querer adivinhar Meus planos para a sua vida. Se confiar que tenho planos de prosperá-lo e não lhe causar mal, conseguirá relaxar e desfrutar o momento.
A sua esperança e o seu futuro estão arraigados no Céu, onde o êxtase eterno lhe está reservado. Nada tirará de você a sua herança de riquezas inconcebÃveis e bem estar. Às vezes, lhe permito vislumbres do seu glorioso futuro para encorajá-lo e incitá-lo a seguir adiante. Mas o seu fogo principal deveria ser ficar perto de Mim. Eu determino o ritmo de acordo com suas necessidades e Meus desÃgnios.[7]
Publicado originalmente em 1997, salvo indicação contrária. Adaptado e republicado em março 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli. Revisão Denise Oliveira.
[1] NIV.
[2] NIV.
[3] Mateus 27:46.
[4] Mateus 26:39.
[5] Hebreus 4:15.
[6] Mateus 26:39.
[7] Sarah Young, Jesus Calling (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010).
The God of All Comfort
A compilation
Link
Audio length: 12:25
Download Audio (11.3MB)
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort…”—2 Corinthians 1:31
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“The God of all comfort.” All sorts of comforts are stored up in God. No matter what you may require to bear you up under your affliction, God has just the kind of comfort which you need—and He is ready to bestow it upon you! Rest assured of that and also believe that He will bestow it upon you if you ask it at His hands. Oh, I think this is a name full of good cheer to everyone who has grown weary because of the trials of the way through this great and terrible wilderness! God is the God of all comfort—not merely of some comfort, but of all comfort. If you need every kind of comfort that was ever given to men, God has it in reserve and He will give it to you! If there are any comforts to be found by God’s people in sickness, in prison, in need, in depression—the God of all comfort will deal them out to you according as you have need of them!—Charles Spurgeon2
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Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.—Isaiah 41:103
*
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.—John 16:334
*
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.—Psalm 23:45
*
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.—John 14:276
*
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.—Matthew 11:28–297
*
There are many people who receive countless blessings from Him and who rest on His promises, who yet do not get to know God Himself in a personal way. There are many who for a time trusted Christ and found great comfort in the assurances of His love, but who at length, in some season of trial, entered into close relations of personal friendship with Him. In this revealing they found treasures of love, of sympathy, and of comfort, far surpassing the best they had ever experienced before. In seeking, therefore, for help in sorrow, we should never be content with the gifts of God alone, or with the comforts which come in His words of promise; we should pass through all these to God Himself and seek satisfaction in the infinite blessedness of His love.
It is thus that the Scriptures represent God. He is ever, with lavish hand, dispensing His mercies and benefits, but He would not have us content with these. “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.” But He desires to manifest Himself to His children as He does not to the world. The great Bible saints found their satisfaction and their help, not in God’s gifts, but in God Himself. Thus the reason for David’s sublime assurance, “I shall not want,” was not because he had great stores of God’s gifts laid up, but because “the Lord is my Shepherd.” His confidence was not in the wealth which God had given him, which would cover all his wants for the future, but in God Himself. In another psalm the writer’s intense longing is not for any mere tokens of divine goodness, any mere benefits or favors, but for God Himself. “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” His thirst was unappeasable in any way but in fellowship with God. Nothing that God could have given him of the richest of His gifts, of the sweetest blessings of His hand, would have satisfied him. It was for God Himself, the living God, that he thirsted. The human soul was made for God, and God alone can meet its need.
The only heart-filling comfort, therefore, in time of sorrow is that which is in God Himself. It is thus, too, that our Father desires to bless us; He asks for our fullest trust, and He would reveal Himself to us in tenderest personal ways. After Horace Bushnell’s death there were found, dimly penciled on a sheet of paper, laid in his Bible, these words: “My mother’s loving instinct was from God, and God was in her love to me first—which love was deeper than hers and more protracted. Long years ago she vanished, but God stays by me still, embracing me in my grey hairs as tenderly and carefully as she did in my infancy, and giving to me as my joy and the principal glory of my life, that He lets me know Him, and helps me, with real confidence, to call Him my Father.”
Persuasions, arguments, and promises, however true, precious, and divine they may be, will never bring perfect quiet to a heart in its anguish. We may listen to all that earth’s most skillful comforters can tell us even of the consolations of the word of God, but our lonely spirit will be lonely still. There may be an assent to all that is said to us, and our mind may acquiesce, finding a measure of rest; yet still in the depths of our being we remain uncomforted. Something is wanting. But if we creep into God’s bosom, and nestle there like a tired child in the mother’s arms, and let God’s love enfold and embrace us, and flow into our heart, however deep the sorrow may be, we shall be comforted, satisfied. And even if every source of human joy has been cut off and we are left utterly bereft, we can still find in God that which will suffice.
There is a blessing in true human sympathy. God sends our friends to us to bring us little measures of His own love—little cupfuls of His grace. But He Himself is the only true comforter. His love alone is great enough to fill our heart, and His hand alone has skill to bind up our wounds.—J. R. Miller8
*
When all our hopes are gone and all seems to fail, even when our dreams are shattered and our ships come home with broken sails, we still have Jesus! And He's all we need!—D. Brandt Berg
*
You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.—Psalm 18:289
*
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.—Psalm 32:710
*
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.—Psalm 139:7–1211
*
He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.—Revelation 21:412
*
His Word is always a comfort and the voice of His Spirit is always an encouragement in the hour of greatest trial.—D. Brandt Berg
*
Cast your burden on the Lord. Just roll it over on Jesus and roll over and go to sleep—and let Him stay up all night! Don't worry about it. Let the Lord do the worrying! His shoulders are broad enough to carry any load—all the burdens put together, including His own!—D. Brandt Berg
*
Keep your eyes on Me at all times. The skies may be dark, the winds may blow, the waters may be deep and murky, and the waves may crash all around you. There may be no apparent way of escape. But I am your escape. I am the sunshine that chases away the dark clouds. My voice will still the tumultuous waves. My rays of sunlight will make the waters clear so that you can see the wondrous splendor that lies under the surface of the ocean of life.
So if all around you seems dark and gloomy, turn your eyes toward Me, your eternal sunshine. I will shine brightly upon your life and I will calm the seas, helping you to find peace and security.—Jesus, speaking in prophecy
Published on Anchor May 2014. Read by Jon Marc. Music by Michael Dooley.
Footnotes:
1 NIV.
2 Delivered by Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, June 15, 1882.
3 ESV.
4 ESV.
5 ESV.
6 ESV.
7 ESV.
8 The Ministry of Comfort (Hodder and Stoughton, 1901).
9 NIV.
10 NIV.
11 NIV.
12 NLT.
Link
Audio length: 12:25
Download Audio (11.3MB)
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort…”—2 Corinthians 1:31
*
“The God of all comfort.” All sorts of comforts are stored up in God. No matter what you may require to bear you up under your affliction, God has just the kind of comfort which you need—and He is ready to bestow it upon you! Rest assured of that and also believe that He will bestow it upon you if you ask it at His hands. Oh, I think this is a name full of good cheer to everyone who has grown weary because of the trials of the way through this great and terrible wilderness! God is the God of all comfort—not merely of some comfort, but of all comfort. If you need every kind of comfort that was ever given to men, God has it in reserve and He will give it to you! If there are any comforts to be found by God’s people in sickness, in prison, in need, in depression—the God of all comfort will deal them out to you according as you have need of them!—Charles Spurgeon2
*
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.—Isaiah 41:103
*
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.—John 16:334
*
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.—Psalm 23:45
*
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.—John 14:276
*
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.—Matthew 11:28–297
*
There are many people who receive countless blessings from Him and who rest on His promises, who yet do not get to know God Himself in a personal way. There are many who for a time trusted Christ and found great comfort in the assurances of His love, but who at length, in some season of trial, entered into close relations of personal friendship with Him. In this revealing they found treasures of love, of sympathy, and of comfort, far surpassing the best they had ever experienced before. In seeking, therefore, for help in sorrow, we should never be content with the gifts of God alone, or with the comforts which come in His words of promise; we should pass through all these to God Himself and seek satisfaction in the infinite blessedness of His love.
It is thus that the Scriptures represent God. He is ever, with lavish hand, dispensing His mercies and benefits, but He would not have us content with these. “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.” But He desires to manifest Himself to His children as He does not to the world. The great Bible saints found their satisfaction and their help, not in God’s gifts, but in God Himself. Thus the reason for David’s sublime assurance, “I shall not want,” was not because he had great stores of God’s gifts laid up, but because “the Lord is my Shepherd.” His confidence was not in the wealth which God had given him, which would cover all his wants for the future, but in God Himself. In another psalm the writer’s intense longing is not for any mere tokens of divine goodness, any mere benefits or favors, but for God Himself. “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.” His thirst was unappeasable in any way but in fellowship with God. Nothing that God could have given him of the richest of His gifts, of the sweetest blessings of His hand, would have satisfied him. It was for God Himself, the living God, that he thirsted. The human soul was made for God, and God alone can meet its need.
The only heart-filling comfort, therefore, in time of sorrow is that which is in God Himself. It is thus, too, that our Father desires to bless us; He asks for our fullest trust, and He would reveal Himself to us in tenderest personal ways. After Horace Bushnell’s death there were found, dimly penciled on a sheet of paper, laid in his Bible, these words: “My mother’s loving instinct was from God, and God was in her love to me first—which love was deeper than hers and more protracted. Long years ago she vanished, but God stays by me still, embracing me in my grey hairs as tenderly and carefully as she did in my infancy, and giving to me as my joy and the principal glory of my life, that He lets me know Him, and helps me, with real confidence, to call Him my Father.”
Persuasions, arguments, and promises, however true, precious, and divine they may be, will never bring perfect quiet to a heart in its anguish. We may listen to all that earth’s most skillful comforters can tell us even of the consolations of the word of God, but our lonely spirit will be lonely still. There may be an assent to all that is said to us, and our mind may acquiesce, finding a measure of rest; yet still in the depths of our being we remain uncomforted. Something is wanting. But if we creep into God’s bosom, and nestle there like a tired child in the mother’s arms, and let God’s love enfold and embrace us, and flow into our heart, however deep the sorrow may be, we shall be comforted, satisfied. And even if every source of human joy has been cut off and we are left utterly bereft, we can still find in God that which will suffice.
There is a blessing in true human sympathy. God sends our friends to us to bring us little measures of His own love—little cupfuls of His grace. But He Himself is the only true comforter. His love alone is great enough to fill our heart, and His hand alone has skill to bind up our wounds.—J. R. Miller8
*
When all our hopes are gone and all seems to fail, even when our dreams are shattered and our ships come home with broken sails, we still have Jesus! And He's all we need!—D. Brandt Berg
*
You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.—Psalm 18:289
*
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.—Psalm 32:710
*
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.—Psalm 139:7–1211
*
He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.—Revelation 21:412
*
His Word is always a comfort and the voice of His Spirit is always an encouragement in the hour of greatest trial.—D. Brandt Berg
*
Cast your burden on the Lord. Just roll it over on Jesus and roll over and go to sleep—and let Him stay up all night! Don't worry about it. Let the Lord do the worrying! His shoulders are broad enough to carry any load—all the burdens put together, including His own!—D. Brandt Berg
*
Keep your eyes on Me at all times. The skies may be dark, the winds may blow, the waters may be deep and murky, and the waves may crash all around you. There may be no apparent way of escape. But I am your escape. I am the sunshine that chases away the dark clouds. My voice will still the tumultuous waves. My rays of sunlight will make the waters clear so that you can see the wondrous splendor that lies under the surface of the ocean of life.
So if all around you seems dark and gloomy, turn your eyes toward Me, your eternal sunshine. I will shine brightly upon your life and I will calm the seas, helping you to find peace and security.—Jesus, speaking in prophecy
Published on Anchor May 2014. Read by Jon Marc. Music by Michael Dooley.
Footnotes:
1 NIV.
2 Delivered by Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, June 15, 1882.
3 ESV.
4 ESV.
5 ESV.
6 ESV.
7 ESV.
8 The Ministry of Comfort (Hodder and Stoughton, 1901).
9 NIV.
10 NIV.
11 NIV.
12 NLT.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Christian School Strike in Israel Comes to End
Associated Press, Sept. 27, 2015
JERUSALEM–Christian schools in Israel said Sunday they would end a nearly monthlong strike over cuts in government funding after reaching an agreement with the Education Ministry.
The schools, which mainly cater to Arab Christians and Muslims, have been on strike since the school year began on Sept. 1 to protest the budget cuts, which Christian leaders have said amount to discrimination. Some 33,000 students in 47 schools are to return to class on Monday.
Under Sunday’s settlement, the Education Ministry said it would cancel the funding cuts and allocate a one-time payment of roughly $12.5 million to the Christian community in Israel. In addition, the ministry and Christian schools agreed to form a committee to resolve any remaining areas of disagreement by next March. The Secretariat of Christian Schools in Israel, an umbrella group, confirmed the terms.
“By the grace of God and after long negotiations, the Secretariat announces that it has reached a settlement with the Ministry of Education,” the secretariat said in a statement. “We see this as a wonderful achievement.”
Critics say the funding cuts amount to discrimination against Israel’s Arab minority, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, noting that the government fully funds two large ultra-Orthodox Jewish private school networks. Administrators say the cuts have forced them to raise tuition for students from low-income communities.
In the birthplace of Christianity, Christians are currently less than 2 percent of the population of Israel and the Palestinian territories. There are about 150,000 Christian citizens of Israel and about 50,000 Christians in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
They have not experienced the violent persecution that has decimated Christian communities elsewhere in the region. But Israel’s Christians, who mainly identify as Palestinians, say they experience discrimination in areas like housing and employment, and over the decades have sought better opportunities abroad.
JERUSALEM–Christian schools in Israel said Sunday they would end a nearly monthlong strike over cuts in government funding after reaching an agreement with the Education Ministry.
The schools, which mainly cater to Arab Christians and Muslims, have been on strike since the school year began on Sept. 1 to protest the budget cuts, which Christian leaders have said amount to discrimination. Some 33,000 students in 47 schools are to return to class on Monday.
Under Sunday’s settlement, the Education Ministry said it would cancel the funding cuts and allocate a one-time payment of roughly $12.5 million to the Christian community in Israel. In addition, the ministry and Christian schools agreed to form a committee to resolve any remaining areas of disagreement by next March. The Secretariat of Christian Schools in Israel, an umbrella group, confirmed the terms.
“By the grace of God and after long negotiations, the Secretariat announces that it has reached a settlement with the Ministry of Education,” the secretariat said in a statement. “We see this as a wonderful achievement.”
Critics say the funding cuts amount to discrimination against Israel’s Arab minority, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, noting that the government fully funds two large ultra-Orthodox Jewish private school networks. Administrators say the cuts have forced them to raise tuition for students from low-income communities.
In the birthplace of Christianity, Christians are currently less than 2 percent of the population of Israel and the Palestinian territories. There are about 150,000 Christian citizens of Israel and about 50,000 Christians in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
They have not experienced the violent persecution that has decimated Christian communities elsewhere in the region. But Israel’s Christians, who mainly identify as Palestinians, say they experience discrimination in areas like housing and employment, and over the decades have sought better opportunities abroad.
You’ll Get Through This - Max Lucado
Max Lucado
Hello everybody! I love this church and I love your pastor. I love everything about what you do. Word of what you do has traveled literally around the world. I’ve met some of your members in remote places and heard about the unique way you are reaching into your city and the way you care for people and oh my, it is an honor to be with you, a phenomenal privilege to be with you. I’ve been in San Antonio at the Oak Hills Church now for a quarter of a century and they are so happy when I travel! They are so tired of me! They always tell me I preach too long.
The other day in one of the services, somebody got up right in the middle of the sermon and started walking out. I stopped everything and I said, ‘Sir, where are you going?’ He said, ‘Well, I’m going to get a haircut.’ I said, ‘Why didn’t you get one before you came in?’ He said, ‘I didn’t need one before I came in!’ You’d never do that to Mark would you? Then not long ago, I stepped into the restroom and we have those hot air hand dryers. You know, you hit the button and a blast of hot air comes out? Somebody had written on a sticky note, for a brief message from our pastor, hit this button. Oh! Not really! It’s a great church and I’m so thankful to be part of this great church and to share a few words with you.
Sometime ago, I ran into a lady from our congregation in a grocery store. I hadn’t seen her in a while so we stopped and visited in the produce section and I asked her about her kids and her work, but when I asked her about her husband, her chin began to quiver and her eyes began to fill with tears. To use her words, she said, well he traded me in on a new model. We talked for a while and we actually had a prayer right there between the lettuce and tomatoes. Then after we prayed, here’s what I told her. I said, ‘You are going to get through this. It may not be painless and it may not be quick, but God can use this mess for something good. But in the meantime don’t be foolish or naïve, but don’t despair either, because with God as your helper, you will get through this.”
A friend called some time ago, he had just been laid off at work. He couldn’t blame his dismissal on the economy or the company. It was his fault. He has said some crude, inappropriate things at work and his supervisor really had no other alternative but to let him go. So now he is in his mid-50s, unemployed in a struggling economy. His wife is mad and his kids are confused and he is ashamed and embarrassed. After we talked for a while, I said, “You are going to get through this. You are. I don’t know if it is going to be painless and I doubt if it is going to be quick, but God will use this mess that you are in for something really good. What’s important for you is don’t be foolish or do something stupid, don’t be naïve, but don’t despair because with God as your helper, you will get through this.”
Not far from where I work, there is a truck stop and this truck stop serves very good, greasy hamburgers! I love to pop in there. This summer they had a young girl who had a summer job at the truck stop and we had a good conversation a couple of times. One occasion she shared with me that her parents were recently divorced and that they were telling her to choose which one to live with. She was only 15 years old and she was pretty torn up about it and I can understand why. We talked about options and what she should do and then before I left, I said, “You will get through this. You are. It may not seem like it right now and it may not be quick and it won’t be painless, but God can use this mess you are in for something good. So don’t be foolish or naïve but don’t despair! With God as your helper, you will get through this.”
Who am I to tell people that? Where do I come off telling people that there is reason for hope in the midst of such crisis? Well, I actually came across that in a pit, a pit so dark and deep that the boy couldn’t get out. Had he been able to get out, his brothers would have pushed him back in because they were the ones who put him there to begin with. The story is in the book of Genesis and it is the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob. You remember how it begins.
23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 And they sat down to eat a meal.
So it was an abandoned cistern with jagged rocks and roots and down inside, we see the boy, at least he appears to be a boy with his spindly arms and legs and his wrists were tied together and he was cramped lying on his side down in the cramped space and his voice is hoarse from screaming and it is not that the brothers don’t hear him, the truth is they hear him very well. Years later when the famine has dampened their swagger, they will confess that they saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us and we would not hear.
These are the great grandsons of Abraham. This is the closest that the Bible comes to a royal family. These guys are going to have their names on the banners of the tribes of Israel. The book of Revelation says that in the New Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem has foundation and in that foundation are carved the names of these boys. But today, their hearts are hard. They are bitter. Within earshot of their baby brother whom they have just thrown down into a pit, they are drinking the wine and passing the bread and their hearts are as hard as the Canaanite desert on which they sit.
Here’s why, Joseph was pampered like a prized calf. His dad, Jacob, had two wives, several concubines, but he really just had one love and Joseph was the first born out of that love. So whenever he saw Joseph, he thought of his late wife and he pampered Joseph. It is a classic dysfunctional family! His family is so dysfunctional, they could have their own reality TV show. The Bronze Age version of Chaos! Joseph gets his own tunic, his own coat of many colors while the other brothers wear hand-be-downs. Joseph gets his own room, the other brothers have to sleep in the barracks. Joseph gets to stay home with Daddy, Daddy’s boy, the other brothers have to go off and work.
And one time, when they were far away from home, 50 miles, to be exact, Jacob sent Joseph to them with an errand and they saw the opportunity for what it was and they took Joseph and they had every intent of taking his life. And had they not been just a feather more greedy than they were blood-thirsty, but then they had a chance to sell him. So here he is in the pit.
My hunch is that Joseph didn’t see this coming. I don’t think he woke up that day thinking now is the day I get thrown into a pit, so I better dress in padded clothing. The attack caught him off guard. Maybe your pit caught you off guard. You weren’t thrown into a pit and forgotten but maybe you were thrown into a divorce court and betrayed. Maybe you were thrown into an unemployment line and neglected. Maybe you were thrown into a bed and abused. The pit, the pit is that time in life that is austere, it is waterless, dark, and we don’t know the way out.
Joseph’s story, if you remember, really got worse before it got better. He was sold into Egyptian slavery where he was accused of sexual impropriety and then he was thrown into prison. Abandonment led to enslavement led to entrapment led to imprisonment, but the thing about Joseph, he never got bitter. He never gave up. He never let his hurt metastasize into hatred. In fact, he not only survived but he thrived! Everywhere he went! The guy was like a helium balloon! He kept ascending to the top. They couldn’t hold him down.
Sold into slavery and then next thing you know, he was in charge of all the other servants. Thrown into prison, next thing you know, he was in charge of all the other prisoners. Then in the most famous bounce back in the history of the universe, Pharaoh shoulder-taps Joseph to become the next Prime Minister of Egypt and literally from one day to the next, Joseph goes from the prison to the palace where he guides the then-known world through a seven-year famine and in doing so, saves his own family.
What did he know? What did he know that enabled him to keep his balance? What did he know that enabled him to always land on his feet? What did he know that kept him from giving in to anger and bitterness or despair? What did he know that enabled him to get through this? We don’t have to speculate, he told us. In some of his final words recorded in the Bible in a conversation he had with his brothers 40 years after this pit moment when the roles were definitely reversed and he is in the palace serving as prince and his brothers, who had been under his protection for many years, come to him because they are afraid he is going to do to them what they did to him because Jacob had died and they are afraid Joseph is going to throw them into a pit.
When Joseph hears them begging for mercy, he basically says you just don’t get it do you guys. You just don’t get it. Let me tell you what is going on here. Something else is happening. Something higher than you, something greater than you is happening. And here he gives the summary in Genesis 50:20
20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
You meant evil against me, he said. You had every intent to hurt me, to destroy me, you came weaving evil. This is a Hebrew verb that comes from another verb that means to weave, to braid, to knit. They came with all of their threads of evil intent and they created this tapestry of hurt. You meant evil against me. But God. Someone else stepped in. someone intervened. Someone else was at play. But God, and then using the very same verb, he said but God meant it, intended it, or you could translate it, God re-wove it. God took the very evil that you brought against me and He re-wove it into something good.
Look at Joseph’s understanding of suffering. Evil came at him but God was on the throne and God is so sovereign that He can take this evil and He can re-braid it, He can unbraid it and re-braid it and use it to do something good, such as protect the children of Israel. Satan’s intent was simple. If he could destroy Jacob and Jacob’s sons and Joseph and all that is happening, then he could, in essence, destroy the lineage of Jesus Christ. So his intention was to step in and interrupt the coming of the Christ long before the family had a chance to become a nation. So what does God do? God lifts and relocates the brightest of the boys in a position where he can ultimately as prince provide safe-haven, protective custody for the children of Israel, a small tribe of about 60 or 70 shepherds who can come into Egypt and live in the protection of the nation because their brother is the prince and then over the centuries multiply into a nation of one million plus.
We see tragedy. God sees perfect plan. We see prison. God sees boot camp. We see Joseph sold into slavery. God sees Joseph fulfilling his intended purpose. Which you intended for evil, Joseph came to realize, God used for good. You intended evil. He acknowledges that evil happens. He acknowledges that the pit was wrong and he acknowledges that being betrayed and abandoned by his own family is not right, but God can take the wrongness of the world and He can re-weave it into something that ultimately causes us to say it stunk at the time and it hurt, but I got through it. In fact, God took that mess and He made it into something good.
This is the promise that we find in the New Testament in Romans 8:28. The New Testament version of Genesis 50:20 is Romans 8:28
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
God works in all things. He takes the things of life and He works in the allness of them, the collection of them, the gathering of them. Individually, they are very difficult but as He takes them and pulls them together as part of his sovereign plan, we look up someday and we see how God was working in that. It’s not what I wanted. It is not what I requested and it is certainly not what I prayed for, but God used that for good.
Just about every morning, my wife and I sit out on the porch at our house and we look out over the beautiful Texas hill country and we enjoy a cup of coffee. And some of the first words I say every morning are these, “Mm, that’s good.” I drink the coffee and I say that’s good. Now what am I saying? Am I saying that a mug is good? Am I saying that plastic wrapping around coffee beans is good? Am I saying that coffee grounds are good? No! Am I saying that a coffee maker is good? Well, no. Am I saying that hot water is good? Am I saying that napkins are good? No! what I’m saying is that when you take all of this and you put it together in the right measurements with the proper ingredients and under the proper care of someone who is a barista, who knows what they are doing. Individually, they are not great, but when they all come together at the right temperature with the right ingredients, good happens.
I’m not saying that cancer is good. I’m not saying that unemployment is good. You will never hear me hint to the mother who suffered a miscarriage that it was good. I will never stand in the cemetery and put my arm around someone and say this is good. No, no. It stinks and it hurts and it is painful and it is misery and there is nothing in the Bible that would suggest that the terror or the tragedy that you are facing right now is good. But here’s the promise of the Bible, God can take that which is bad and He can use it for good and He can turn it into good. He can redeem it. He can reclaim it. He can take what Satan brings and He can perform a divine jujitsu of sorts and that is the very power that comes at you will be recycled against the devil so that the devil says he thought he was selling that family so that extinction was in the plan but it ended up being preservation. What he intended was evil but what happened? And every time that which is intended for evil becomes ultimate good because God has never abandoned the throne.
Here’s my question for you, could it be that what God did then for Joseph, He will do right now for you? That what is intended as evil, what is intended as tragedy, what is intended to hurt you will actually be used to develop you and to strengthen you and to advance the cause of God. Evil, but God, good. Evil can become good as we commit God in the middle of it. How do we do that? I’ve got two or three ideas.
Number one, when you find yourself in the pit, then lay claim to the nearness of God. Lay claim to the nearness of God. God gives you this promise. He says never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. It is even stronger in grief. The translation could be I will not not leave or neither will I not not forsake you. Five negatives in one sentence, not, not, neither, not, not. He is making a point. He never leaves you. You may think He has. You don’t feel the nearness of God. When somebody is going through a hard time, they say they don’t feel like God is near.
Here’s the rule of thumb, when you are passing through a tough time, you have to let God’s Word trump your emotions. You can’t trust your emotions. They are not trustworthy. I’m not saying you are not trustworthy, I’m saying that tough times stir up unreliable and undependable emotions. Sometimes you have to take your emotions outside and give them a good talking to. Whether you feel God is near or not does not matter. What matters is that God has said He is near. Don’t equate the presence of God with a good mood. Don’t equate the presence of God with a good mood. You say it, I say it, ‘I feel so good, God is near.’
You can also say this, ‘I feel cruddy, God is near.’ Because how you feel does not determine the presence of God! So lay claim to that. When you are in the pit, when you are in a difficult time, do not give in to that lie from the devil that says God is not near. God is with you, right there in the emergency room, right there in the foster home, wherever I am, I don’t know what tomorrow holds but I know God is here. You’ve got to hang on to that. It is your parachute. Lay claim to the nearness of God.
Number two, cling to his character. Recite and rehearse the character of God. My friend, J.J. Jasper lost his son in a dune buggy accident, a five year old boy, when the dune buggy flipped, his son died. From the emergency room, J.J. had to call the rest of the family. The boy was the youngest, the others were in their teenage years at the time and he had to call them. They were away at a summer camp. I said, “How did you tell your children that their baby brother had died?” He said, “Well, as each got on the phone, I said I’m going to tell you some really bad news but before I do, I want you to think about everything you know that is good about God. Think about everything you know that is good about God. When times are bad, what is still good about God.”
That conversation left an imprint on me and I made a list of everything I know that is good about God. And I keep it with me in case crisis strikes, I want to have it handy. My list reads like this, no matter what, God is still sovereign. No matter what, God still knows my name and angels still respond to his call and the hearts of rulers still bend at his bidding. No matter what, the death of Jesus still saves souls. The Spirit of God still indwells saints and heaven is still only heart beats away. The grave is still temporary housing. God is still faithful. He is not caught off guard. He uses everything for his glory and the ultimate good. He uses tragedy to accomplish his will and his will is right, holy and perfect. Sorrow may come with the night but joy always comes with the morning.
You see, in changing times, you must lay hold to the unchanging hand of God. That’s what makes tragedy so difficult, because it is a change and no one likes change. We want everything to stay the same but it is not going to stay the same. But God does. So in the midst of a difficult time, rehearse, recite the characteristics of God.
Here’s a third idea. Pray your pain out. Pray it out. This is the time to shake a fist. This is the time to lodge your complaint. This is the time to march up and down the lawn. This is the time to pound the floor with your fists. This is the time to let God know I don’t like what you just did! That’s ok for you to say! It’s alright. God is not going to get mad. He is not going to have his feelings hurt. Did you know that in the Bible there is a book called Lamentations? What is a lament? It is a complaint. File your complaints.
Part of your healing is revealing your hurt. Part of your healing is revealing your hurt. God has disappointed you. He has. Whether you want to put it in those words or you are a little embarrassed about putting it in those words, the fact of the matter is, you had this expectation of God that if God was God then, and then something happened that you don’t think God should have done and you are just a little ticked off. So it is very important for you to have a heart to heart with God about it. It is very important. Otherwise the devil is going to get a wedge between you and God. You’ve got to go deep with God in dark times.
It could be that God is using this time to really reveal more of Himself to you. Maybe, could it be, that you had the wrong understanding of God and He is just correcting it a bit? And He is allowing you to endure a tough time so that something can happen inside you? Could it be that you are asking God to change your circumstances when all along God is just using circumstances to change you? And these circumstances are important in your development but you don’t know that until you pray the pain out. You’ve got to get heart to heart and honest with Him. That’s ok. It is really better for you to take it out on God than to take it out on other people. My friend says it is better to shake your fist at God than to turn your back on Him. So go ahead and pray your pain out.
One more idea, lean on God’s people. Lean on God’s people. Cancel your escape to the Himalayas. Come out of quarantine. I know you don’t want to be around anyone but exactly where you need to be is around other people! You need to be in a small group. You need to be connected to the church. You need to be a barnacle on the boat of God’s church. Here’s why, Jesus said for where two or three are gathered together, I am there in the mist of them.
We tend to say we are going to go get away so we can find God but God says, ‘Well, I’m over here in the middle of all these people!’ If you want to find Him, come and hang out with others. Here’s why, somebody else has been through what you are going through. Someone has and you will meet them in a small group or at church. Jesus is right there. You tend to think no one has ever gone through this before, I’ve said those things too, but listen, someone has! Oftentimes, they have grey hair or they are bald like I am. What you need is to place yourself in a position where somebody will hear your story and they will say, that happened to me, or something similar happened to me and I got through it. You need somebody on the other side of the tunnel to say hey, there is no quicksand, you are going to make it.
The devil’s strategy is to isolate you, to quarantine you, to cut you off from God’s hope supply center which is the church. If I’m hungry, I go to the kitchen. If I’m sick, I go to the doctor. What makes me think that when I’m discouraged I should avoid people? The church is God’s hope distribution center. When my wife was in her early 30s, we were new to ministry. We have three daughters who were very small at the time, two still in diapers, one in kindergarten. And she had a husband who didn’t get off the airplane and stay home as much as he should have, so she was left running the world and she got depressed. It was a very tough time for her. She said everyday was grey. She calls it her black cloud. No matter what happened, she couldn’t pull herself out of it.
One Sunday in particular, she just almost didn’t go to church. She was so tired and wasn’t sleeping well and then to get three girls bathed because I was already at the church. But she decided to go, but if somebody says how are you doing, I’m going to tell them! And sure enough, it began in the parking lot. How are you doing? She said, ‘I’m depressed. I’m having a rough time and I’m very discouraged.’ And a nurturing, encouraging conversation happened right there in the parking lot. So she went inside the front door, how are you doing today? She said, ‘I’m depressed and I’m discouraged and I’m not sure I can make it.’ Another healthy conversation. She got inside the auditorium, how are you doing? This went on 13 different times! By the time she left that day, she had 13 people who volunteered to pray for her and to check up on her and to encourage her. She would tell you, I’ve heard her tell others, her healing began that day. It didn’t all happen that day but she traces the beginning of her healing to the day she began to lean on God’s people.
You are going to get through this. You are going to get through it. You just need somebody to help you get through it. You are going to get through it. Is it going to be quick? I hope so! But oftentimes it is not. For some reason, God just takes his time because part of the plan is to take time to mature us. Is it going to be painless? I don’t know, that’s not my call. But here’s what I do know, God will use this mess you are in for something good.
Every page of the story, every story in the Bible, it seems, tells us that deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to the Mardi Gras! Bold, brassy and everywhere! God getting people through things, through fiery furnaces and through stormy times and through lions’ dens, through challenges and arguments and difficulties and through persecution. God gets his people through the valley of the shadow of death. He gets us through things. In the meantime, don’t be foolish. Don’t try to treat long term problems with short term solutions. More drugs don’t help an addiction. More adultery doesn’t help a rocky marriage. More debt doesn’t fix debt. So think. In Texas, we say stupid doesn’t fix stupid. Just be careful because you are a sitting duck for a bad decision so you have to be careful. But don’t despair either.
Here’s my closing comment, my closing challenge. Defy despair! Defy it! Say you are not going to get me! You may have taken some of my family, you may have taken some of my friends, it may seem like you are taking a whole society at times, but you are not going to get to me. I’m going to hold on to hope. I don’t know exactly what the solution is and I don’t know exactly where tomorrow is going to take me but I’m going to hold on to hope. I defy despair! You are not going to have me because with God’s help, with God as my helper, I know this, I will get through this!
Lord, we thank You for your promise. We thank You for your presence. We thank You Lord for what You do for us and what You do in us. I know, Lord, that hearing this prayer are some of your sons and daughters who are very discouraged, and I believe You brought them to hear this message so that they could have enough strength to make it just one day, to not give up, to not throw in the towel. Lord, the devil wants to interrupt them because they have something that this generation needs. They are a Joseph in their generation, uniquely equipped to take a stand for You in their circle. Lord, strengthen them today. Let us hear this and resolve hope and let hope go deep. We ask You to help us and we know You will. We know You will. We offer this prayer through Jesus Christ, Amen.
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Ministry Transcription
