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Justin Taylor posted this today:
In the blog post “The Right and Wrong Questions to Ask When You Get Cancer,” I shared how David Sunday (pastor of Grace Community Bible Church) encouraged his wife, Kate—in light of the diagnosis of advanced cancer in her body—to focus not on the questions of “Why me?” but rather upon “Who is God?” “What does He want to teach us?” and “How can we glorify him in this?”
In response some commenters suggested that this was wrong-headed, and that it it biblically permissible to ask “Why?”
David responds:
I am not suggesting that it is sinful to ask God “Why?” questions. I have appreciated Michael Card’s teaching in A Sacred Sorrow and I’m grateful for the psalms of lament.
Nor am I advocating a stoic form of passive resignation. Our friends know—and the Lord knows—that we have shed many tears of sorrow in the last three weeks. We are crying out to God for the gift of healing. I am so thankful to have a God who hears our brokenhearted cries and who sympathizes with us with all His heart in the midst of our fear and sorrow.
I do believe that focusing on “Why?” questions can lead to confusion and despair if we demand answers from God that He has not promised to give us. Instead, by God’s grace, and with the Holy Spirit’s help, we want to focus on the “Who?, What?, and How?” questions—for these questions can lead us deeper into the character of God as we pour out the grief and sorrow of our hearts to Him. When I spoke those words to my wife in the hospital room, I was thinking of the book of Job. Job did ask “Why?” questions and he is not condemned for doing so; but I don’t recall God directly answering Job’s “Why?” questions. Instead, the Lord redirected Job’s focus to Who God is. That, ultimately, is where we hope to settle our hearts: Be still and know that I am God.
Embedded in the Why? questions can be the seeds of unbelief or anger against God. God does not usually answer our why questions with the answers our flesh is demanding.
But he does give us abundant reasons to sustain our hope. And those reasons are usually a more direct answer to the Who, What, & How questions. In other words, “I gave you this thorn in the flesh to exalt my strength.” This tells me something about who God is, what God is doing in my life, and how God intends to use me for his glory. It doesn’t necessarily answer the questions we tend to ask, like: Why me (out of all the people on the earth)? Why this particular trial? Why now (as opposed to ten years from now when my kids are grown up)?, etc. . .
Please do remember to pray for this family, even as they teach us much in the midst of this great trial.
Russell Moore provides some very helpful and practical advice regarding what it means to honor one’s parents in all stages of life and the true nature of submission. Sometimes we have “good reasons” for permanent decisions, and we need to realize that more is at stake than the implied good intentions of our desires.
This is “must-read” counsel.
I’m not an avid golf follower. I mostly follow the majors each year. But I admit it. Tiger Woods is my favorite golfer. I suppose it is because I started attempting to play golf about the same time that Tiger burst onto the national golf scene. It’s probably also because we are the same age. It’s not because our financial portfolio’s mirror one another. The last time I checked Tiger Woods will soon become the first professional athlete to earn over 1 billion dollars during his career. I think I’ve earned about $500,000 in my lifetime!
The Tiger Woods saga saddens me, not just because Woods is my favorite golfer, but because it breaks my heart to see the effects of sin upon this world. CJ Mahaney has posted an excellent article on the Tiger Woods story.
…sin is an enemy Tiger can’t manage. He can’t shape this story like he does a long iron on a par 5. Tiger doesn’t need a publicity facelift; Tiger needs a Savior. Just like me. And just like you. And if by God’s grace he repents and trusts in the person and work of Christ, Tiger will experience the fruit of God’s promise that “whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
Read the rest of it here. I think it will change the way that you read the headlines in the future.
Danny Akin, the President of Southeastern Theological Seminary, has posted an encouraging review of the Southern Baptist Convention last week in Louisville, Kentucky. Akin writes:
It is possible years from now that we will look back on the 2009 SBC in Louisville and see it as a historic watershed moment in our history. It is possible that on the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Conservative Resurgence (CR), we will have witnessed the natural and hoped for outcome of the CR in the genesis of a new movement of God among His people in a Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) that signaled a new day in the advance of the gospel across North America and to all the nations of the earth. I know this is my heart’s cry and desire.
Southern Baptists recently concluded what I thought was one of the most encouraging annual meetings we have had in years. I believe there are many reasons Southern Baptists should be excited about the direction the SBC is heading.
Let me begin by stating that there is absolutely no shame in losing to Italy and Brazil. They are two of the premier soccer powers in the world. The US played valiantly against Italy despite Ricardo Clark needless ejection, forcing them to play down a man for 60 minutes. But today’s performance against Brazil confirms what is a troubling trend for the US National team. In 4 of the past 5 matches they have conceded at least 1 goal in the first 20 minutes. This is a trend that has to stop. The US team doesn’t not possess the kind of offensive firepower to consistently bounce back from being down a goal early.
But the other troubling trend is Coach Bob Bradley’s insistence upon putting certain players on the pitch over and over, especially when they are not fit, in form, or producing. Read the rest of this entry »
Ever wonder what Noah’s Ark looked like? Billionaire brothers from Hong Kong show us.
I always knew that Concord was located among an eclectic group of folk as East Brainerd is a diverse community, but I didn’t know quite how eclectic our neighbors really were. Citizens living off of N. Concord Road have filed complaints with the city council over a variety of bizarre articles that have appeared in Chaya Anavi’s front yard. The items include a red toilet, dismembered mannequin heads scattered across the yard and roof, and a mannequin head posted on a mail box with a corn cobb inserted into its mouth. Ms. Anavi maintains,
She is working on an art project under free speech rights and is no different than public art downtown or a nativity scene.
Check out the link above to see the freak show.
With all of the talk from environmentalist and scientific groups about global warning, doesn’t this latest news about the earth being on the brink of another ice age seem a bit odd?
The main flaw in the anthropogenic global warming theory is that its proponents focus on evidence from only the past one thousand years at most, while ignoring the evidence from the past million years — evidence which is essential for a true understanding of climatology. The data from paleoclimatology provides us with an alternative and more credible explanation for the recent global temperature spike, based on the natural cycle of Ice Age maximums and interglacials.
Promise & Pleasure 