“One of the greatest books I’ve ever read is J. I. Packer’s Knowing God. Knowing God came out in 1973, when Nanci and I were in our first year at Bible college. We read it right away. It was an instant classic.” - Randy Alcorn
“God isn’t just in life’s monumental things. He’s present in the little things: rain drops, the artistry of spider webs, and the sound of an acoustic guitar. A child’s laugh…. If we disregard these and thousands of other gifts, we don’t just fail to notice them, we fail to notice God.” - Randy Alcorn
“A.W. Tozer said, ‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.’” - Breakpoint
“Our situation is different from Moses’, of course, but I think it’s important we daily ask God to help us see a glimpse of who He is and what He’s doing.” - Chuck Lawless
“If we want to be better theologians, we must take ourselves less seriously to take God more seriously. When it comes to our knowledge of God, we need to realize we’re all idiots.” - TGC
“God has always been a revealer of Himself both in His words and in His works. He spoke to Adam in the garden of Eden to reveal Himself and displayed aspects of His character in the works of creation that surrounded Adam.” - Ligonier
Read Part 1.
God can seem impersonal and heartless. Who has not begged God for relief, even if no more than for a few drops of water on a parched tongue, only to hear the silence of heaven? Maybe the deists are right. Maybe God wound up the clock of this world and walked away. Maybe no one answers because no one is there.
You may be thinking, why start a series on knowing God through suffering with the most abstract and difficult doctrine known to Christians? Why not start with something simpler, like mercy or faithfulness? All in due time.
I start with the Trinity because who God is in his fullness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the starting point for all our understanding about God. If we skip who God is at the very essence of his being, we may get off on the wrong foot. But even more importantly, the triune nature of God in his three persons is a gold mine for understanding the riches of God and his reasons for allowing his creatures to suffer.
Read Part 1.
If God has ordained my suffering, what can I do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Well, nothing about my circumstances, but I can do something about my heart.
I only have three choices. First, I can cry out to God like the psalmists and cling to what I know to be true about God’s character and promises. I can, in great weakness and desperation cling to the sure and steadfast anchor (Heb. 6:19), the shepherd and overseer of my soul (1 Pet. 2:25) who has promised to never leave me or forsake me (Heb. 13:5).
“So, this is it. This is how I’m going to die,” I thought as I kneeled over the toilet in my underwear, waves of pain slamming my stomach. For the sixth time in two weeks I was experiencing unbearable pain, caused by the lemon-size tumor in my small bowel. What I didn’t know was that it had almost completely blocked my intestine and that I would be in the hospital within the hour. It would be my first of four stays in the hospital, culminating two months later in emergency surgery to fix a perforated bowel.
