Why name joy the gift in trials? Because trials keep us from becoming complacent about our loving God and Savior when we are forced to our knees and the tears won’t stop. It is only then that our communion with our God is the purest. Trials drive us to run boldly to the throne of grace, to the safety of being on our faces in the presence of God, and to spend time in deep communion with God. When we are hurting, we don’t suffer as much from weak, shallow, and meaningless minutes with the Lord, We learn to relish and anticipate hours with God! The experience of communion and intimate fellowship with God is the very depiction of joy!
— Steve Swartz, Pastor, Bibellehrer und Buchautor
Related Bible passage: HEB.4.16
Topics: Suffering & the Question of God, Joy & Gratitude, Prayer & Silence
Occasions: Comfort
Steve Swartz
Steve Swartz ist ein US-amerikanischer Pastor und Autor, der die Grace Bible Church in Bakersfield, Kalifornien, leitet. Er steht für eine reformiert-baptistische Theologie mit versweiser Schriftauslegung und befasst sich in seinen Schriften unter anderem mit biblischer Seelsorge sowie Scheidungsgründen bei schwerem Missbrauch. Heutigen Bibellesern vermittelt er systematische Auslegungen reformierter Kernlehren und Hilfestellungen zu praktischen Glaubensfragen.
All quotes by Steve Swartz (17)
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