Close Please enter your Username and Password
Reset Password
If you've forgotten your password, you can enter your email address below. An email will then be sent with a link to set up a new password.
Cancel
Reset Link Sent
Password reset link sent to
Check your email and enter the confirmation code:
Don't see the email?
  • Resend Confirmation Link
  • Start Over
Close
If you have any questions, please contact Customer Service


marbella3 70F
2483 posts
11/24/2014 5:14 am

Last Read:
11/25/2014 5:06 am

Hope In Suffering


Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9

In this [living hope] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. 1 Peter 1:6

Bible in a Year:
Ezekiel 22-23; 1 Peter 1

When I opened my Bible to read Jeremiah 1 through 4, the subhead ascribed to the book startled me: Hope in Time of Weeping. I almost cried. The timing was perfect, as I was walking through a season of weeping over the death of my mom.

I felt much the same way after hearing my pastor'™s sermon the day before. The title was Joy in Suffering, taken from 1 Peter 1:3-9. He gave us an illustration from his own life: the one-year anniversary of his father'™s death. The sermon was meaningful for many, but for me it was a gift from God. These and other events were indications backed up by His Word that God would not leave me alone in my grief.

Even though the way of sorrow is hard, God sends reminders of His enduring presence. To the Israelites expelled from the Promised Land due to disobedience, God made His presence known by sending prophets like Jeremiah to offer them hope ”hope for reconciliation through repentance. And to those He leads through times of testing, He shows His presence through a community of believers who œlove one another fervently with a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22. These indications of God'™s presence during trials on earth affirm God'™s promise of the living hope awaiting us at the resurrection.
Does Jesus care when I've goodbye
To the dearest on earth to me,
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks,
Is it aught to Him? Does He see? O yes, He cares!

We need never be ashamed of our tears.