This season at Servants of Grace, we’ve been discussing suffering and justice, and what that means in light of God’s sovereignty. In our world today, many people have a skewed view of what justice is and God’s role in bringing that about. So...
Churches are filled with people who are, and will be, experiencing hurts and disappointments in life. Jesus promised we would experience troubles in this world, but to take heart, He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Pain and suffering are marks of...
When the storms of life wreak havoc on all you know and love, what theological truths anchor your soul? What doctrines do you turn to when the world around you seems to give way under your feet? What truths about God bring you the most comfort when life...
The Westminster Shorter Catechism famously answers, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." This is to be the single greatest controlling influence in our lives. I confess that it is easy to talk about glorifying God and enjoying Him...
Biblically speaking, to be just means to use your strength on behalf of the weak. Justice most certainly includes an overall “fairness”, truth, integrity, honesty and refusing to show partiality. But the essence of justice goes beyond that. The essence...
There is no theological issue more complicated than the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. And this is no mere academic question, for our understanding here (or lack thereof) significantly affects such practical areas as...
Kristen Wetherell and Sarah Walton are the authors of Hope When It Hurts: Biblical Reflections to Help You Grasp God’s Purpose in Your Suffering (www.TheGoodBook.com). T4L: You each have been diagnosed with Lyme disease and continue to suffer the...
The Lord is sovereign, powerful, and good. Evil exists and creatures bear moral responsibility for it. In making sense of the undeniable presence of sin, along with injustice and suffering it causes, many people deny one or more of these...
Whatever difficulties you face, it's safe to say there is something else going on than what meets the eye. In what way is God working all things for good? According to Romans 8:28, God is conforming us to the image of His Son. Jesus Himself was brought...
John 12:35-43, “So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in...
Achilles was the Greek hero in Homer’s Iliad during the Trojan War who was killed by Paris with an arrow that struck his only vulnerable spot, his heel. So the Achilles heel is the vulnerable or susceptible spot. Critics of historic Christianity often...
Few issues are as volatile right now as the problem of ISIS. Former President Obama, during his Presidency, stated multiple times that Islam is a “religion of peace”. While some denominations of Islam may seek to have peace, the statement that Islam is...
Hope has been defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “desire with anticipation.” Other definitions given by Merriam-Webster include a “deeply held wish” or a “feeling of wanting something to happen.” I’m certain that this is how the broader...
The Bible from beginning to end is the story of God. There is but one living and true God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Is. 45:5-7; 1 Cor. 8:4), an infinite, all-knowing Spirit (John 4:24), perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three...
If God is sovereign and all powerful, He must not be good. Or if He is good, then He must not be sovereign and all powerful. So reason many who believe that there should simply not be any suffering in the world. But even if they understand some...
Is God the author of evil or its helpless victim? St. Augustine's answer has been the most intellectually credible and emotionally satisfying solution to this vexing problem. One doesn't need a Ph.D. in theology to look around the world and realize...
As we examine the topic of the suffering of Christ and sovereignty of God, we see that it is one that many people face and struggle with mightily. In this article, we will begin the journey through this topic by considering what is said in the Book of...
We often think that if God loves us, He should spare us, or those we love, from suffering. And when He doesn’t, we wonder how that can be love. In John’s account of Lazarus’s death and resurrection, Jesus shows us how this can be. We start by being...
The doctrine of the Wrath of God has fallen on hard times. In today’s world, any concept of God’s wrath upsets our modern sentiments. It’s too disconcerting, too intolerant. We live in a day where we have set ourselves as the judge and God’s character...
All people suffer. All Christians suffer. In fact, Christians suffer in unique ways because of their faith commitment. After being stoned and left for dead, the apostle Paul exhorted the disciples to understand, “It is necessary to go through many...
Dave Furman (ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary) serves as the senior pastor of Redeemer Church of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which he planted in 2010. Dave and his wife, Gloria, have four children. He is the author of Being There How to Love...
Prosperity is hot topic in the church. Does God care if a pastor drives a nice car or lives in a nice home? Does God command that all who follow Him take a vow of poverty and starve their families in a protest of earthly comfort? Bible teachers sell...
Consider these ministry scenarios: you are teaching a Bible study and during a time of group discussion, a woman reveals that her husband left her for another woman. What do you say? Or someone you serve in ministry learns they have a debilitating...
The impetus for this article comes from the ultimate reality of God as the supreme value in and above the universe. God is absolute and eternal and infinite. Everything else and everybody else is dependent and finite and contingent. God Himself is the...
On February 17, 1860, citizens from Montgomery, Alabama, gathered in the jail yard to burn the “dangerous books”[i] of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the most popular preacher in the Victorian world. A newspaper recorded the event: Last Saturday, we devoted...