In Spite of Ourselves

Anyone who has been around me for a while knows that I very much value the writings of both Nancy Guthrie and Paul David Tripp. They are 'modern' writers and speakers who teach theological and biblical concepts in their own winsome, understandable, and practical ways.

I am presently reading Tripp's book entitled "Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense." It is based on his own life-threatening physical suffering that began in 2014 and troubles him to this day. He has so many "quotable" insights that I cannot begin to choose between them, so I've decided at least for today to just give you a sampling of them.

"Suffering is never abstract, theoretical, or impersonal. Suffering is real, tangible, personal, and specific. The Bible never presents suffering as an idea or a concept but puts it before us in the blood-and-guts drama of real human experiences."

"Remember that the theology of suffering in Scripture is never, ever an end it itself but is designed as a means to the end of real comfort, real direction, real protection, real conviction, and real hope. This concrete way of dealing with what Scripture teaches forces us away from platitudes and denial and toward concrete understanding and candor."

"What you think about yourself, life, God, and others will profoundly affect the way you think about, interact with, and respond to the difficulty that comes your way."

"Weakness is not what you and I should be afraid of. We should fear our delusion of strength."

"Here's what is so important to understand, and what may be the principal contribution of this book: your suffering is more powerfully shaped by what's in your heart than by what's in your body or in the world around you."

Candy's thoughts: OUCH! All this in the space of 6 pages in which he further explains these concepts. As for me, I have yet to process these quotes fully, except to say that instinctively I believe them all to be true. At a minimum, my recent bout with a serious illness proved to me the truth of the 4th of the quotes. While lying in the hospital bed hooked up to machines I remember thinking "I've been through illness before, I'll get through it again."  But would I? Because of my own strength of body or will? How could I know that for sure? So I continued in this delusion until a few days after I was released when I got the final diagnosis of what I actually had wrong with me, and then I felt humbled. It caused me to rethink my prideful attitude that I could pull this recovery off by myself as I had before.

The reality is that our lives always have been, are now, and always will be in the hands of an almighty God who loves us with an everlasting love. He will carry us through every trial, in spite of ourselves.