A Moment With Pastor Fred

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, “Every heart has its secret sorrows, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.”

Are you going through a sad time? Such times – though unwanted and unwelcomed are the norm in a fallen and broken world. There’s nothing wrong or unusual about suffering. Your experience, however, might be sadder than unusual. The reality is life is hard. Creation is groaning. And we groan along with it. The NT tells us not to be surprised when heartaches come. Temptations, hardship and sufferings, guilt and shame, sorrows and sadness will abound in this life. That is one reason why Jesus came – to rescue us, to redeem and help us.

Jesus experienced such difficulties. If you doubt that read Mark 6. The list is long: constantly on the move, seeing no fruit in his hometown, leading a team that gets scattered, his cousin dies, he’s so busy he can’t get away … woah. Jesus knows stressful seasons. He knows all about it. He is sympathetic to such times. He experienced them himself. 

The late Tim Keller wrote, “Prayer is the way to experience a powerful confidence that God is handling our lives well that our bad things will turn out for good, our good things cannot be taken from us and the best things are yet to come.” This is what Rom 8:28 is all about – one of my favorite verses. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Sad? Take heart, dear friend. God is involved in that sadness. He can redeem it.