on suffering

Arthur Mathews, missionary in China for 9 years, held in house-arrest 4 years because of that ministry, writes a poignant statement on the matter of suffering and purposes of God's plan:

"We tend to look at the circumstances of life in terms of what they may do to our cherished hopes and conveniences, and we shape our decisions and reactions accordingly. When a problem threatens, we rush to God, not to seek his perspective, but to ask him to deflect the trouble. Our self-concern takes priority over whatever it is that God might be trying to do through the trouble...
An escapist generation reads security, prosperity, and physical well-being as evidences of God's blessing. Thus when he puts suffering and affliction into our hands, we misread his signals and misinterpret his intentions."

Guilty myself of being in the "escapist generation & mind-set." Asking God to remind me of His plan & lessons each day.


[Found in the book Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, pg. 222]




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