Vision of Hope uses many different biblical resources in our curriculum that we use to help our ladies. Over the next several months, we would like to share insights from these resources to encourage you and help equip you in your walk with Christ. Our plan is to post these blogs on Fridays so we are calling it “Resource Fridays.” Each Friday that we post (might not be weekly at first!), we will be reviewing one of our resources. Some weeks may feature biblical teachings from the same resource since many of them are theologically rich!
First on our list is Jerry Bridges’ book, Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts.
Throughout our lives, we all experience very difficult circumstances. Abuse, divorce, and cancer are running rampant in today’s culture. There are so many murders and rumors of war in the news that we can easily become caught in fear. These situations are so devastating that we find ourselves asking why a sovereign, good God could allow something to happen that is so bad. Trusting God helps us to see this difficult issue from God’s point of view.
Trusting God discusses God’s sovereignty, wisdom, and love. Jerry Bridges challenges readers to think biblically, and to not only obey the Lord, but also to trust Him through our most difficult circumstances.
In his book, Bridges addresses the hard questions we all have when faced with a trial, including, “Is God truly good?” This question and many others are answered by studying scripture, including Lamentations 3:31-33:
For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though He brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.
Trusting God teaches that “God does not willingly bring affliction and grief to us. He does not delight in causing us to experience pain or heartache. He always has a purpose for the grief He brings or allows to come into our lives. Most often we do not know what that purpose is, but it is enough to know that His infinite wisdom and perfect love have determined that the particular sorrow is best for us. God never wastes pain.” That final sentence has become a slogan at Vision of Hope: God never wastes our pain.
Few resources offer truth like this book for encouragement to have faith and truly trust God’s sovereign plan. This book has been an essential resource for our residents at Vision of Hope as they learn how God wants them to respond to the very difficult situations they have experienced in their lives. Learning how to trust our sovereign God is so freeing, and is a vital step to breaking destructive habits that often begin as a way of sinfully coping with difficult circumstances.
If you would like to purchase this great resource, stop by our Resource Center at Faith Church, or order online at http://store.faithlafayette.org/browse-by-topic/christian-life-and-growth/aging/trusting-god/
