ALLOW THE UNANSWERABLE TO REMAIN UNANSWERED
BREAD
8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. 10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:8-10 (NIV)
1 Then Job replied to the LORD: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:1-6 (NIV)
10 This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29:10-14 (NIV)
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion– to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV)
13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Genesis 18:13-14 (NIV)
4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Hebrews 12:4-13 (NIV)
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; 16 the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all. Psalm 34:15-19 (NIV)
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:7-8 (NIV)
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 (NIV)
BUTTER
“In a world full of hate, abuse, and game change, God doesn’t avoid or ignore pain. He sings a louder song over it. And He invites His hurting people to sing with Him.” Aubrey Sampson
“If God has allowed you to settle in a difficult place—pray. But don’t just pray for a way of escape. Instead, pray for the Lord to work His good pleasure into your life. If there is a need for discipline, be willing to receive it so that you will experience the blessings of God.” Michael Youssef
“Do not think, believer, that your sorrows are out of God’s plan; they are necessary parts of it. ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom.’ Learn, then, to ‘count it all joy . . . when you meet trials of various kinds.’ O let my trembling soul be still, And trust Thy wise, Thy holy will! I cannot, Lord, Thy purpose see, Yet all is well since ruled by Thee.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“Even though we may be in a rush to see God’s purposes fulfilled in our lives, He is not. We may feel like our current season of life is a waste, but God wastes nothing. God is certainly not the author of evil, but He is so gracious that He will transform dismal circumstances into opportunities for blessing. By the time Joseph was reunited with his brothers, he had realized this Truth: ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’ (Genesis 50:20).” Michael Youssef
“The eclipse of your faith, the darkness of your mind, the fainting of your hope–all these things are just parts of God’s method of making you ready for the great inheritance, which you will soon enjoy. These trials are for the testing and strengthening of your faith–they are waves that wash you further upon the rock–they are winds that steer your ship more quickly toward the desired haven. What David wrote then will be true of you: ‘he brought them to their desired haven’ (verse 30). By honor and dishonor, by evil report and by good report, by plenty and by poverty, by joy and by distress, by persecution and by peace–by all these things your spiritual life is maintained, and by each of these you are helped on your way.” C. H. Spurgeon revised by Alistair Begg
“Suffering is an invitation to stop pretending. Suffering in an invitation to stop avoiding. Suffering is an invitation to let go of control. Suffering is an invitation to pour out our hearts. Suffering is an invitation to lament to God. God has given us the biblical language and practice of lament to express our pain and survive our suffering. Lament minds the gap between current hopelessness and coming hope. It helps us listen, because God sings a louder song than suffering ever could.” Aubrey Sampson
“I am waiting on Thee, Lord, to open the way.” J. Hudson Taylor
“As one expert stated, reflecting on the Kennedy crash, ‘You have to be well trained to disregard what your brain is saying . . . and fly by the instruments.’ There is a spiritual parallel. I’ve experienced it. On a spring day in May 1997, I flew into a very dark faith-fog. I lost sight of the points of reference that under normal conditions had kept me flying right. I became spiritually disoriented, and I began to spiral down. More familiar Christian terms for my experience are a ‘crisis of faith’ or a ‘dark night of the soul.’ I’ve often described it as an eclipse of God. For the first time since I had come to an earnest faith in Christ, he suddenly became completely obscured from my spiritual sight. This was more than a fog. It was a major storm. The tempest of doubt was like nothing I had experienced before. It grew very dark in my soul, and swirling winds of fear blew with gale force. The turbulence of hopelessness was violent. I couldn’t tell which way was up or down. I was no longer sure about anything I had believed about God or the world or my soul. I lost my senses. Then one day, after long months in this storm, a thought hit me with unusual clarity: ‘Jon, fly by the instruments.’ The thought set me thinking over what pilots must do when they can’t trust their sight. They must force themselves to stop trusting their subjective perceptions, and place their faith in what the objective instruments tell them. They must fly by faith, not by sight. This storm was the darkest, most confusing I had experienced up to that time, but it was by no means the first storm I had flown in. In previous years, God had trained me in various ways to trust his promises over my perceptions, and I had always found his promises more reliable. So now, during this raging storm, when everything seemed uncertain, when I was disoriented and at times near panic, I had a choice: trust my doubt-filled perceptions of reality or trust the instruments of God’s promises. I had received some training; now my very life depended on putting the training into practice. When our skies are clear and our feet securely on the ground, and we’re just imagining flying through such a storm, it’s easy to envision ourselves calmly relying on the instruments — flying by faith. However, as pilots who’ve undergone training for instrument flight certification will testify, the real experience is nothing like we imagine. We often don’t realize how much we rely on our own perceptions until they are screaming something different than our instruments; when we actually feel the confusing disorientation, all the powerful, compelling impulses, and the fear coursing through us; when it feels absolutely crazy to trust the instruments. So, I kept my focus on the instrument panel. I continued to pursue God in Scripture, I continued to pray, I continued church and small group attendance, whether or not they felt helpful in the moment (and often they did not). I kept on with the work God had given me to do. I opened my heart to trusted friends and mentors, and sought counsel. At one point, John Piper said to me, ‘The rock of truth under your feet will not long feel like sand.’ My thought was, ‘I hope you’re right. But I doubt it.’ My doubts proved wrong. Eventually, God’s promises proved again to be reliable instruments, and my fears proved again not to be. I didn’t crash. God pierced my cloudy darkness with his light, and I’ll never forget how he did it. The eclipse ended, and God, the great Sun of my life, shown again, illuminating my world: ‘For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.’ Psalms 36:9. Comparing storms is typically not what is needed. What’s needed is sharing crucial principles and protocols that help keep our planes flying in whatever disorienting conditions we find ourselves. And the one I want to leave you with is this: when your perceptions tell you something different than God’s promises, always, always, always trust God’s promises over your perceptions.” Jon Bloom
“I know He tries me only to increase my faith, and that is all in love. Well, if He is glorified, I am content.” J. Hudson Taylor
“There is a living God….He means what He says and will do all He has promised.” Hudson Taylor
HEART SAVOR
• There is purpose in our pain.
• Fix your eyes on His promises not your problems.
• Practice pleasing Him. Want what He wants for you. His plans for every heir of mercy are good and pleasing and perfect – always. Fix your eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen for what is seen is temporal but what is unseen is eternal.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 