Do you feel the world is broken? (We do)
Do you feel the shadows deepen? (We do)
But do you know that all the dark won't stop the light from getting through? (We do)
Do you wish that you could see it all made new? (We do)
Is all creation groaning? (It is)
Is a new creation coming? (It is)
Is the glory of the Lord to be the light within our midst? (It is)
Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? (It is)
(Is He Worthy? Andrew Peterson)
Due to the coronavirus epidemic-the loss of jobs grows, families everywhere are becoming scared of what the future holds, people are terrified that one of their loved ones might get sick. The church is unable to fellowship together. Friends can’t have the comfort of giving each other a hug. As we are quarantined in our homes, as we watch the news, the reality of how serious this is and how long it will last sinks in deeper and deeper. As events cancel, you have more and more time doing nothing-causing you to be able to dwell on your thoughts more and more. The reality of the amount of deaths around the world and the grief of those left behind settles on your shoulders. It reminds you of how much evil and sin is in this fallen world. It brings to mind past losses, past sorrows, past betrayals, past criticism, and past pain. It is times like these, that we need to be constantly guarding our hearts and focusing on God and the hope of His promises.
As we start to meditate on God’s promises- it’s also good to remind ourselves that God does NOT promise our lives as believers will be easy. In fact, he says the opposite. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12) The reality is that this is a fallen world. Every action of man is tainted with sin. If you are a believer, you are in a constant battle against the sin in your heart, always in the pursuit of holiness, yet you will still be tempted to think that this is a lot of loss and not much gain. But God promises that the Christin life is gain. We are all prone to doubt, and when we fail to trust God, we doubt His sovereignty and question His goodness. But as believers, we have confidence that our suffering is under the control of an all-powerful and all-loving God. That makes our suffering distinguishably different than that of unbelievers suffering.
“Not only is all your affliction momentary not only is it light in comparison to eternity and the glory there. But all of it is totally meaningful. Every millisecond of your pain from your fallen nature or fallen man, every millisecond of your misery in the path of obedience is producing a peculiar glory you will get because of that. I don’t care if it was cancer or criticism. I don’t care if it was slander or sickness. It wasn’t meaningless.”(John Piper)
This is a battle…a battle of faith. Of course you don’t know his plan and you can’t see what he is doing. What you do know for sure is that it HURTS, and that you have suffered loss… But don’t look to what is seen! Colossians 3:1 says, “Set your mind on things in heaven, not on thing that are on the earth. ” When your mom dies, when your friend dies, when your brother dies… don’t say “It is meaningless!” It’s not! He is working for you an eternal gift of glory. Look at what God said in Gethsemane (summarized by John Piper) “Tomorrow is going to be a lot of loss. It’s going to be mega loss at 9 clock tomorrow morning. In fact it’s going to happen all night long, I will never sleep again before I die…and its going to hurt like hell, literally.” Hebrews 12:2 says “But for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Don’t take your eternal security for granted! Fight the fight of faith on the basis of Christ’s spectacular death and resurrection. Do no lose heart…for the Christian life IS GAIN. Fix your eyes on him. Take these truths and, day by day, focus on them. Preach them to yourself constantly until your heart sings with confidence that you are new and cared for. Remind yourself of the truths the scriptures tells us we must believe if we are to trust God in adversity: God is completely sovereign, infinite in wisdom and perfect in love. Jerry Bridges says it like this…
“God, in His love, always wills what is best for us. In His Wisdom, he always knows what is best. In His sovereignty, he has the power to bring it about.”
HE IS WORTHY
Setting The Example 