BIBLE MEDITATION:
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Over and over again, people ask me, “If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?” There’s never an easy answer when someone is grieving or suffering, but God has taught me that the universe has a disease: a curse came upon our earth as a result of sin and rebellion against God. He cannot remove the pain caused by sin until the last vestige of sin is gone.
The worst thing that could happen to human beings would be if we were to live in a world cursed by sin, yet pain free and seem to be in a paradise! We would never come to God. He promises that one day He is going to set all things right. The first verse of this chapter (Revelation 21) tells us, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away…” The same Creator God who gave man a Garden of Eden will give us, His beloved children, a new Heaven and a new earth where what we are experiencing now will seem like a distant memory.
The Apostle Paul, who experienced great suffering, wrote, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18), and “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
ACTION POINT:
God has showered this world with immeasurable mercies. Focus today not on the suffering, but on the provision of God’s daily grace. |
