April 9
Luke 13:1-21
What causes difficulty and suffering in your life? Is it your personal sin? Is it the sin of others? Is it the brokenness of the world? It is often difficult to pinpoint one specific cause, but what is certainly true—and experienced by all of us— is we live in a broken world. Luke directs our attention to some Galileans who were murdered, a tower that fell and killed eighteen people, a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years, and a synagogue ruler who was spiritually dead. What caused these things? We can point to the individual sin of Pilate for the murders of the Galileans, the tower fell because we live in a fallen world, the woman we are told was crippled because of Satan, and the synagogue leader was hardened, at least in part, because of his own decisions.
We have all heard of preachers who directly connect natural disasters to the sins of a country, but how do they know that? You may experience a health issue and wonder if this is due to your sin. It could be, but maybe not. Rather than God giving us the answer to the question “why,” what he asks of us is to trust him and run to him during pain and tragedy. We may experience hardship because of our sin, the sins of others, the attacks of Satan, the discipline of God, the fallenness of the world, or some other cause. Through it all we need to turn to God, the one who can work amid everything we face.
Father God, help me to trust you when life is hard and always seek you. Amen.
How can you trust God when you do not know why something difficult is happening?
What causes difficulty and suffering in your life? Is it your personal sin? Is it the sin of others? Is it the brokenness of the world? It is often difficult to pinpoint one specific cause, but what is certainly true—and experienced by all of us— is we live in a broken world. Luke directs our attention to some Galileans who were murdered, a tower that fell and killed eighteen people, a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years, and a synagogue ruler who was spiritually dead. What caused these things? We can point to the individual sin of Pilate for the murders of the Galileans, the tower fell because we live in a fallen world, the woman we are told was crippled because of Satan, and the synagogue leader was hardened, at least in part, because of his own decisions.
We have all heard of preachers who directly connect natural disasters to the sins of a country, but how do they know that? You may experience a health issue and wonder if this is due to your sin. It could be, but maybe not. Rather than God giving us the answer to the question “why,” what he asks of us is to trust him and run to him during pain and tragedy. We may experience hardship because of our sin, the sins of others, the attacks of Satan, the discipline of God, the fallenness of the world, or some other cause. Through it all we need to turn to God, the one who can work amid everything we face.
Father God, help me to trust you when life is hard and always seek you. Amen.
How can you trust God when you do not know why something difficult is happening?
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