During these times, almost all people are undergoing similar trials due to the coronavirus pandemic. May you find the following highlights from Dave Furman’s book Kiss the Wave: Embracing God in Your Trials helpful.
“God is doing more in our suffering than we can see with our eyes. None of us enjoys adversity. We want out, and yet God in his grace uses suffering for our benefit.” (p. 18)
“Hardship, sorrow, disability, persecution, and death are not good in themselves. But God in his grace uses them for our good and his glory. The nearness of God awakens us to him in our trials and draws us toward his grace.” (p. 19)
“It’s only when we take our eyes off of ourselves and our circumstances and we gaze upon him and his work that we can keep our heads above water when the high tide of our trials comes our way.” (p. 20)
“The psalmist proclaims this in verse 1 of Psalm 46: ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’ Therefore we should not fear. Regardless of what might be happening around us, we have God’s protective presence. God is not only sovereign over all things, but he is present, right there with us in the midst of all things.” (p. 33)
“Friend, we must understand that even in the midst of utter chaos, God is with us. He is with us and he is for us. Unless we understand that with our hearts, we will be afraid. If God is your treasure, your soul will never be empty. If God is your refuge, you will never be deserted. If God is your fortress, you will never be unprotected. Jesus bore the full wrath of the Father to bring the ultimate war to an end. Go to him today. Trust in God.” (p. 38)
“It’s surprising that God would come to us. When we are walking through trials of various kinds, we need to remember this truth. God did not leave us alone in this world. The Son of God left heaven and came to earth. He faced incredible pain and suffering himself to rescue us from our sin and bring us hope in our trials.” (p. 42)
“Your greatest reality isn’t your illness or your sorrow, but that you will be with God forever. You may feel physical pain now, but you will not feel the ultimate pain of facing the wrath of God forever. You will not face the penalty for your sin, because Jesus took that penalty (sin and death) for you so you could be made right with God. All this was proven to be true because Jesus rose from the dead.” (p. 63)
“We grieve, but not as those without hope. Your tears are not hopeless tears. Your hope is not grounded in your circumstances but in Jesus. No one can take away your joy. The joy that comes through Christ because of the resurrection is a forever joy. It is not contingent on your circumstances or your health.” (p. 66)
“Christian, if you are suffering, this is not the end of your story. One day, Jesus will wipe away every tear from your face. I know he will, because he is alive.” (p. 67)
“Hurting friend, don’t look for your ultimate comfort in the things in this world. Some of these things are good things, and they are often a help to us, but one day even the good things will fail you. Don’t look for comfort in your social media activity or your hob- bies. Don’t search for it among friends from work or in your boss’s applause. You are known by the King. He knows your name and everything about you. He sees all of your pain. In the words of the apostle Paul, ‘If anyone loves God, he is known by God’ (1 Cor. 8:3).” (p. 85)
“If Jesus is not the center of your life, in the midst of pain you will self-destruct from your idolatry.” (p. 90)
“In his perfect plan, God has chosen to use broken people to do extraordinary things. He has planned to use pain and suffering for our good and his glory in ways beyond our wildest imaginations. In God’s plan, weakness is the way.” (p. 96)
“The heroes of the Bible are not strong but inadequate and insufficient. They certainly do not meet the standard set by Marvel comics. They are simply jars of clay that God uses to show the world that he gets all the glory.” (p. 97)
“Jesus was and is the sacrificial Lamb slain for our sins. These marks are not a deformity, they are not a result of an accident or a defeat. They are the most beautiful scars in all of history. Jesus’s broken body is our only hope and salvation. Now it is our privilege to point to Jesus through our scars. Our broken bodies can be a beautiful picture of God’s glorious redemption.” (p. 102)
“Being unhealthy or struggling with some trial shouldn’t cause you to stop your church involvement. You shouldn’t think that you’ll get involved once you’re healthy. The church needs you now.” (p. 109)
“It seems counterintuitive, but in God’s grand design, your trial might be the moment of your most significant ministry. Could that be the case in your life right now?” (p. 110)
“When you have heaven in view, you don’t need a more comfortable and easier ‘now’ to bring you joy. What you need instead is forever to reshape your here and now. Living in light of eternity doesn’t remove our pain, but it allows us to have hope in moments of pain.” (p. 134)
Treasuring Christ PH 