Monday, November 26, 2007

The Redemption, not the Suffering, is Ultimate.

When we suffer we attract counselors as money attracts thieves. Everybody has an idea of what we did wrong to get ourselves into such trouble and a prescription for what we can do to get out of it. We are flooded first with sympathy and then with advice, and when we don't come around quickly we are abandoned as a hopeless case. But none of that is what we need. We need hope. We need to know that we are in relation to God. We need t o know that suffering is part of what it means to be human and not something alien. We need to know where we are and where God is.


Ajigasawa Church - we're pretty happy people -

but its been a hard year for some!


..For the person who suffers, has suffered or will suffer, Psalm 130 is essential equipment, for it convinces us that the big difference is not in what people suffer but in the way they suffer. ...We see that whatever or whoever got us in trouble cannot separate us from God, for "forgiveness is Your habit." We are persuaded that God's way with us is redemption and that the redemption, not the suffering, is ultimate.

- p. 145. Peterson's "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

No comments: