There is no such thing as luck” or “accident”… We must resist limiting God’s sovereignty in the face of suffering. The comfort of God…is not His empathy with us as someone who feels the tragedy of evil but is helpless in it. Nor does the comfort of God reside in His actions as a “fourth-quarter quarterback,” who is brought in after things have fallen apart to save the day just before the whistle blows. There is no comfort in suffering if God is not sovereign over it. To pare down God’s sovereignty is to render suffering a triumph of evil and sin against the limited will and power of God.
— Scott Hafemann (b. 1954), Theologe und Neutestamentler
Topics: Suffering & the Question of God, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit
Occasions: Comfort, For Reflection
Scott Hafemann
Scott Hafemann (* 1954) ist ein US-amerikanischer evangelikaler Neutestamentler und Theologe, der unter anderem am Wheaton College, am Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary und an der University of St Andrews lehrte. Bekannt ist er für seine Arbeiten zur paulinischen Theologie, insbesondere zum zweiten Korintherbrief, sowie für die theologische Betonung der Kontinuität von Altem und Neuem Testament. Bibellesern vermittelt seine Exegese ein vertieftes Schriftverständnis, das alttestamentliche Verheißungen eng mit praktischer Kreuzesnachfolge und Glaubensgehorsam verbindet.
All quotes by Scott Hafemann (39)
In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.
Henri Nouwen
Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.
Henri Nouwen
C.S. Lewis
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
Henri Nouwen
He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Etty Hillesum
God writes straight even on crooked lines.
Paul Claudel
God lets us walk no path that he himself has not walked, and on which he does not go ahead of us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer