Life2gether

Most of the time when we talk about trials, we think of physical suffering, pain, and loss. And we should. After all, the Bible does. For example, 2 Cor. 11:24-28 records the many difficult trials Paul faced as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Paul knew the pain of suffering and loss. And through these trials he learned to trust in God. But he learned something else. Something we often forget. Paul learned to be content in EVERY situation.

In Philippians 4:12, Paul speaks of God’s provision and how he learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. Paul knew how to be brought low and how to abound. In every circumstance, he was content because he understood that life was filled with both trials and blessing, suffering and prosperity.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of Paul I picture him suffering all the time. I picture a man who never enjoyed one moment of physical comfort or pleasure. Yet, it’s clear that there were times where he had plenty. I’m not sure what that entailed, but in those times Paul knew what to do. He abounded in thanksgiving. He continued to trust in God and not in what he had. I wonder if we do the same.

You see, for most of us, we face a different kind of trial each day. The trial of prosperity. Prosperity can be a dangerous trial for the Christian. Instead of bringing us closer to God, it can take us further away from him. Charles Spurgeon once said,

The crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to the Christian than the refining pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of soul and neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the very mercies and bounties of God!

Wow. Most of us have never thought that God would test our faith by giving us abundance. And these mercies of God can actually take us away from God if we receive them with the wrong heart. So like Paul, I want to learn to be content in every circumstance. I want to learn what it means to be brought low in times of adversity. And I want to learn how to abound in times of prosperity – so that my soul would be satisfied in Christ alone no matter what comes my way.

That’s my prayer for you today as well.

This is quite a story. It reminded me of my friends, Dustin and Kellie Shramek, who lost their precious son, Owen, about 8 years ago. In the book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, Dustin wrote a chapter about some of the lessons that God taught him–lessons about God, and also lessons about how and how not to minister to those in nearly unbearable grief and pain.

After the book was published, Women Today Radio did a brief interview with Dustin; here’s an excerpt:

How has Jesus sustained you through the dark days?

At first it was hard to see how Jesus was sustaining us through the dark days. Yet deep down I knew that he was. My mother died when I was sixteen, two years after I had become a believer. After her death God lead me to Romans 5:3-5, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Having endured through her death I had come out on the other end with my faith intact and I again had hope that God was for me.

After Owen died my wife, who had not experienced the death of one so close, never believed that she would be able to have joy again. And while I certainly didn’t feel joy, I knew that one day I would. The suffering I had endured through my mother’s death had indeed produced hope. Even though my firstborn was dead I believed that I would again have joy. I had experienced God’s faithfulness and I knew that he would be faithful again.

The text, though, that impacted me the most was 2 Corinthians 7:6, “But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.” During the first months after Owen’s death we felt very little comfort from God. At times I struggled with anger thinking, “God, I know you are sovereign and so you are the one who brought this about. I accept that, but the least you could do is draw near to us and give us comfort.” On the six month anniversary I was reading through all the e-mails and cards we had received from God’s people and I was reflecting on the help we had received from his people where he was born. Then I read this verse and it dawned on me. God was and is comforting us by the coming of countless brothers and sisters in Christ. Often we don’t feel the warm presence of the Lord in our suffering, but that does not mean he has left us alone. We are a part of the body of Christ and it is through this body that he ministers to us in our darkest days.

(HT: JT)

911 Panel Discussion from Southern Seminary on Vimeo.

This is a video my twin brother, Mark Wolter, made for our parents’ church in Iowa about his trip to help in the devastation area from March 31 to April 8.

My twin brother, Mark Wolter:

There are several Christian men working on the pipe connection for the cooling system of the Fukushima nuclear plant. These are workers that have volunteered to essentially sacrifice their lives for the good of their country and the world. I find it interesting that so many are Christians despite there being about 1 Christian man in every 400 people in Japan. Please pray for these men. (Read the rest …)

Free download here.  And please pray for my brother and family as he gets ready to leave to the Sendei area for some relief work in the coming weeks.

Jonathan Dodson:

The confident hope of the Christian faith is that God has done, is doing, and will do something about the problem of evil and suffering. He defeats evil at the cross, releases “aid workers” at the resurrection, and promises total peace at his return.

Read the whole thing …

Please continue to pray for the people of Japan. I posted a couple videos and John Piper’s prayer below.  In the first video, my twin brother, Mark, appears at about 9:20 sharing about how he’s been affected by the earthquake.  The second video shows more of the unbelievable devastation.

Father in heaven, you are the absolute Sovereign over the shaking of the earth, the rising of the sea, and the raging of the waves. We tremble at your power and bow before your unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways. We cover our faces and kiss your omnipotent hand. We fall helpless to the floor in prayer and feel how fragile the very ground is beneath our knees.

O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you.

And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.

Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments, leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.

Grant, O God, that the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Grant us, your sinful creatures, to return to you, that you may have compassion. For surely you will abundantly pardon. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, will be saved.

May every heart-breaking loss—millions upon millions of losses—be healed by the wounded hands of the risen Christ. You are not unacquainted with your creatures’ pain. You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.

In Jesus you tasted loss. In Jesus you shared the overwhelming flood of our sorrows and suffering. In Jesus you are a sympathetic Priest in the midst of our pain.

Deal tenderly now, Father, with this fragile people. Woo them. Win them. Save them.

And may the floods they so much dread make blessings break upon their head.

O let them not judge you with feeble sense, but trust you for your grace. And so behind this providence, soon find a smiling face.

In Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.

By now all of you know about the devastating earthquake in Japan.  Many of you also know that my twin brother is a missionary there in Kyoto.  He and his family are doing fine as they live about 450 miles from the epicenter.  They did feel the tremors, but their big concern now is praying for and helping the people of Japan.  Go to his blog and read more about what he had to say.

I was interviewed today by WHAS.  Here’s the brief article. There may be a couple more interviews coming.  Pray for the right words to speak that would honor God in this time.

A wake-up call to remember that our days are numbered in this world.