"The unfolding of your words gives light ..." (Psalm 119:130a)
“Don’t ever give up in freedom what we would never have given up in persecution!” — An elderly Russian pastor to an American missionary interviewing him about the persecution suffered under Communism (The Insanity of God, p.196)
I take this to mean that prosperity is at least as dangerous to our faith as is persecution.
We are far more likely to be seduced into surrendering our faith and its essentials than we are to be scared out of it.
“Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God.” (Psalm 62:11)
“Well may the saint trust such a God! He is worthy of implicit confidence. Nothing is too hard for Him. If God were stinted in might and had a limit to His strength we might well despair. But seeing that He is clothed with omnipotence, no prayer is too hard for Him to answer, no need too great for Him to supply, no passion too strong for Him to subdue; no temptation too powerful for Him to deliver from, no misery too deep for Him to relieve.” (A.W. Pink, The Attributes of God, p.51)
“The Lord is my slave-driver,
I must never be satisfied.
He compels me to try harder.
He makes me labor more furiously;
He leads me into noisy activity.
He implores me to ignore the emptiness within
and just keep going;
He prods me in the paths of perfectionism
for His reputation’s sake.
Even as I walk through the valley of the shadow of burnout,
I fear a breakdown;
But no one can see the real me;
Your expectations and Your people,
they goad me on.
You prepare a list of expectations before me
in the presence of my peers;
You provoke me on and on,
My cup seems more parched than ever.
Surely serenity and rest will elude me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the land of the harried forever.”
(Song of the Satisfied Soul, pp.27-28)
© 2024 Light to Live By
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑