Looking Heavenward

 “Look, I am making everything new!” 

 Rev. 21:5

 And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

  Rev. 7:17

Recently the word redeemer has come to my attention. It is such a beautiful word as it applies to our Savior because it speaks of the price he paid to buy back all that was lost and restore everything to its original condition.  

Are you tired of the futility and frustration of this broken world? Are you exhausted by sin, suffering, and death?  Are you burdened with the pain that lives inside you and outside you? Your Redeemer knows.  Your Redeemer understands. Your Redeemer cares.  His grace has been unleashed and its work will not be done until every last sin-broken thing has been fully and completely made new again.  Be encouraged, your Redeemer is at work!*

Isn't this good news. It is good to know that our Redeemer, knows and understands when we are feeling the pain and sorrow of our own sin or are affected by the sin of others.  It is good to remember where we are headed, that in the end he will redeem all things from death and decay. It is good to keep our gaze heavenward where we anticipate entering into glorious freedom, where all our tears will be wiped away and everything will be made new.

But with eager hope,

the creation looks forward to the day 

when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom 

from death and decay.

  Ro. 8:21

Listen:  My Redeemer is Faithful and True, Steven Curtis Chapman

*Tripp, Paul David, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional, Crossway, 2014, pg. 102.

Image:  Looking Heavenward by Marcia Breznah

The Blessing of Trials

So be truly glad. 

There is wonderful joy ahead, 

even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.

1 Peter 1:6 (NLT) 

When troubles come your way,

 consider it an opportunity for great joy.

 James 1:2-3 (NLT)

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials,

 for we know that they help us develop endurance. 

Romans 5:3 (NLT) 

"Count it all joy!"  "Rejoice!" "Be truly glad!" When life is easy and fun and going smoothly, that makes sense.  But to be glad and rejoice when we run into problems and troubles and trials, really? It is paradoxical to think we should be happy and joyful when we are hurting and sorrowful and in painful circumstances. 

Why then would Paul and Peter and James all tell us the same thing?  Did they know something we don't? What they knew and had experienced was that trials work. They had gained the understanding that trouble accomplishes things that living a carefree life could never do.  Going through trouble humbles us and creates something of eternal value in us. Impurities are burned away like gold that has gone through the fire.  All of the unnecessary things in our lives are stripped away, leaving us with things of true value. 

How can we rejoice when we are full of fear and dread, anxiety or pain. Only by faith, by looking away to the one who endured all, by trusting that all difficulties are working in us new and better and higher things.  Believing that God is good and that he will bring good from what ever we go through. Then we can say like Job, "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)  When he brings us through, we will see his hand.  So rejoice, be glad, be happy when you encounter all kinds of trials for God is working in you to accomplish his great purposes.

Thank you, Lord, for your refining work.  Thank you, Lord, for the humbling that comes when my trials bring me to the end of myself. I rejoice in your work and all the good you are creating in me.

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. 

Yet they produce for us a glory 

that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

2 Cor. 4:17

Click here: Andrae Crouch singing Through It All