Tuesday, January 19, 2010Thought of the Day: "Let us learn to discern whether the words spoken against us or against God or against the truth are merely for the wind- spoken not from the soul, but from the sore. If they are for the wind, let us wait in silence and not reprove. Restoring the soul, not reproving the sore, is the aim of our love."
One of the biggest struggles I've had in my attempts to evangelize is that against the unbelief of people who have been hurt by life. These people have what John Piper calls "sores" from the trials and struggles of this broken world. With these sores, they have spoken out against God in a way that has offended me. Sometimes my first response is to tell them to grow up and just see the light. Sometimes when people complain to me that if God were real, He wouldn't have let so-and-so happen, I want to just admonish them for thinking they could know better than the Creator of the universe.
The Bible, however, speaks clearly to this in the story of Job. In a mix of RSV and NIV translations, Job 6:26 reads, "Do you mean to correct what I say, when the speech of a despairing man is wind?"
When faced with grief, pain, and despair, people often say things against God that they don't usually mean. Such words are wind, and will quickly blow away. Our duty, then, is to wait silently out of love for these words to blow away. A time will come when the people who suffer will understand how meaningless their words of despair and bitterness were in the light of God's glory and abundant grace.
Praise Him for His provision. :3
One of the biggest struggles I've had in my attempts to evangelize is that against the unbelief of people who have been hurt by life. These people have what John Piper calls "sores" from the trials and struggles of this broken world. With these sores, they have spoken out against God in a way that has offended me. Sometimes my first response is to tell them to grow up and just see the light. Sometimes when people complain to me that if God were real, He wouldn't have let so-and-so happen, I want to just admonish them for thinking they could know better than the Creator of the universe.
The Bible, however, speaks clearly to this in the story of Job. In a mix of RSV and NIV translations, Job 6:26 reads, "Do you mean to correct what I say, when the speech of a despairing man is wind?"
When faced with grief, pain, and despair, people often say things against God that they don't usually mean. Such words are wind, and will quickly blow away. Our duty, then, is to wait silently out of love for these words to blow away. A time will come when the people who suffer will understand how meaningless their words of despair and bitterness were in the light of God's glory and abundant grace.
Praise Him for His provision. :3
Labels: A Godward Life
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