RIVER OF MUD

THORNS AND THISTLES

When Adam was put out of the Garden, he was told that thorns & thistles would grow, but only by hard work would he wrestle a living from the ground. Many of life's problems come under this heading. Flooding, drought, earthquakes, volcanoes, and on and on. We are in a battle for life with Nature. This is going on all around our world. Yet this is part of God's blessings. We struggle, we experience, we learn. But especially we TRUST GOD. Compare Hebrews 12:5-13. We discipline and train our children because we want them to grow up and to succeed in life. So does our Heavenly Father wish us to do so. This is love in action.


RIVER OF MUD - we care because God cares. Churches of Christ are helping in this time of crisis in Iowa and other States. We can help to relieve this great loss. Money can be sent to:

WFR Relief Ministries; White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ; P O Box 35801; West Monroe LA 71294-9951.

Church of Christ Disaster Relief Effort, Inc.; 410 Allied Dr; Nashville TN 37211-3304.
Both are under the direction of elders.


What Do I Do Now? Sorrowing Without Losing Faith.

"The key to being a faithful Christian is not avoiding tests of faith; it is handling those tests appropriately." Andrew Phillips

Three Books stand out: Job, Lamentations; Psalms. Read Job 1:13-22; 2:7-10; Lamentations 5:19-21 Suffering is real, but we reach beyond that. The true answer is to Look to God and His Glory!


1. It is all right to ask questions of God. But it would be wrong to murmur against God.

a) Job’s testing.

"Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips." Job 2:10 (NKJV)

"Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed? Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins?" Lamentations 3:38-39 (NKJV)

"Hear my prayer, O Lord, And let my cry come to You. Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my trouble; Incline Your ear to me; In the day that I call, answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke, And my bones are burned like a hearth. My heart is stricken and withered like grass, So that I forget to eat my bread." Psalms 102:1-4 (NKJV)


2. Don't deny God's existence. Job never once denied God's existence. He questioned God's justice and His timing of things, but never the fact that GOD IS.

a) Do not deny faith.

The Book of Job teaches us that when we suffer, there may be reasons behind it that we will never know. Our response should be faith. Biblical laments uphold the importance of faith in Him.


b) Allow emotion and feelings to work through.

Job did not speak for a week. When he finally spoke, his anguish was clear. "Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself?" Job 7:20 (NKJV)

"Oh, that I were as in months past, As in the days when God watched over me;" Job 29:2 (NKJV)

"You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." Job 42:3 (NKJV)


c) Allow events to finish and bring closure.

Our loyalty to God is greater than our loyalty to our friends. But we love God by loving our friends first. However, even though we may overlook their faults (as God overlooks our faults), we may still keep them as friends even while refusing to participate in their mistakes.

"It is not wrong to ask tough questions as long as we prayerfully deal with them through reading God's Word (letting God remind us of His power as He did with Job); praying honestly about our struggles, and asking others for help. If we leave tough questions unresolved, they can chip away at our faith. Biblical laments openly articulate difficult issues, but they do come to a conclusion." Andrew Phillips

"We cannot produce pat answers to solve someone's serious problems in a few short minutes. What we can do is walk alongside our hurting friends during the biblical lament process. That experience will not be quick, easy or simple, but it will bring the comforter and the comforted closer to God." Andrew Phillips


d) Our weakness is God's power.

"And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 12:9 (NKJV)

"My grace is sufficient for thee. The Lord answered his prayer, not by removing the thorn, but by giving grace to bear it, and by the assurance that Paul's sense of weakness, caused by it, fitted him to receive the divine strength." —People's New Testament, (Johnson's Notes)

It is not wrong to lament and ask questions (but not murmur against God). Lament (sorrowing, grieving, mourning) is part of our life here on earth. But for this process to be healthy, we must follow the biblical pattern.

"And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." 1 Cor 12:26 (NKJV)

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." Romans 12:15 (NKJV)