From the Archives...

Some Thoughts on Punctuation

I recently came across a different way of looking at our trials and afflictions. While we know that everything that happens to us is for our good and God's glory, it usually doesn't feel especially good or glorifying. What if we still can't make any sense of the particular events that are distressing us? Here is a suggestion from Dr. Joseph Stowell:

"If you look at your problem and then look at God, you can end up throwing stones at God for the problem. If you look at God first and look at your problems through Him, through His sovereignty—that He is in control of everything, that He has permitted this in your life for a reason, that He is a just God, that He will settle the score for you—you will see that He is an all-powerful God who can turn this situation to that which is good and right.

So the way to avoid the vulnerability of these nagging questions that distance you from God and make you liable for Satan's attack in the midst of your despair is to really focus on what you know to be true about God and to live in the exclamation point of that truth, not in the question marks of what you don't know about your problem."

How true. God has not left us alone. Among innumerable other blessings, He has given us His Word which reveals to us His magnificent character. The Bible tells us so much about God, and yet we don't naturally flee to it when we are hurt or troubled. Perhaps we should pray to be equipped with eyes to see His exclamation point rather than all our question marks.