Trusting God, Part 10

Chapter 10: Experiencing God's Love

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" - Romans 8:38-39

"I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember then, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope" - Lamentations 3:19-20. "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" - Lamentations 3:22-23.

Discipline, in the form of adversity, is a proof of God's love: "My son do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciples those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son" - Hebrews 12:5-6. We MISTAKENLY look for tokens of God's love in happiness. We should instead look for them in God's faithful and persistent work to conform us to the likeness of Christ. "Discipline is the mark NOT of a harsh and heartless father but of a father who is deeply and lovingly concerned for the well-being of his son" - Phillip Hughes

"All of us tend to underestimate the remaining sinfulness in our hearts. We fail to see the extent of pride, fleshly self-confidence, selfish ambitions, stubbornness, self-justification, lack of love, and distrust of God that He does see. But adversity brings these sinful dispositions to the surface just as the refiner's fire brings impurities to the surface of the molten gold" - Jerry Bridges.

"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you" - Isaiah 54:10. And because His love cannot fail, He will allow into our lives only the pain and heartache that is for our ultimate good. God will not spare us from the matters of sorrow and the fires of adversity, but He will go through them with us.