“So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right and trust your lives to the God who created you, for He will never fail you” (1 Peter 4:19).
I am 19 years old: this age doesn’t tell how far I have walked only how long I have been on the road. In all of my life, God has never failed me. One of my favorite verses in the Psalms is 56:8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” How tender and intimate to know that God catches our falling tears–not just one or two, but all of them. As women, perhaps especially young and tender women, we are given to tears when we experience moments of great joy and hours of great despair. In Anne of Green Gables when Anne first arrives at Matthew and Marilla’s home, Marilla takes her upstairs and Anne is bemoaning the fact the she may have to leave and she says something like, “I am in the depths of despair.” Marilla huffs and Anne asks her if she has never despaired; Marilla replies, “No, I have never been in the ‘depths of despair,’ to despair is to turn your back on God.” What an interesting statement! That scene always plays out in my mind when I walk through my darkest days and I feel as if I will never see light again. It is so important for us to realize that it is through sorrow that we learn to rejoice, it is through struggle we become strong, and it is through suffering that we are given peace, relief, and deliverance.
Scripture says that God doesn’t give us more than we can bear (temptation, burdens) and I recently read somewhere that “God is not in the burden-stacking business.” There was a whole explanation of the author’s position on the misinterpretation of God’s role in our trials–but I didn’t agree completely with his take on it. I believe that God “knows the way that I take” and I believe that He does test me–He walks with me through the fire that I might burn brighter for Him.
Psalm 119:27, 30, 67, 71, 73
“I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word…I have chosen to be faithful; I have determined to live by your regulations…I used to wander off until you disciplined me, but now I closely follow your word…My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees…You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands.”
Karyn Pugh
Student at FWBBC: Nashville, TN
PRAY TOGETHER: “Who is the Creator?†Pray as we meditate on this month’s TWG study.
