The Book Of God And The God Of The Book

John 14:18, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”

I was thinking today of how wonderful God's plan for every Christian believer is. God has not only authored a HOLY BOOK to instruct us throughout life, but He has chosen to send His HOLY SPIRIT to live inside us too! So we GET THE BOOK OF GOD, and we also get THE GOD OF THE BOOK! That is so wonderful!!!

I suffer in chronic neck pain every day of my miserably lonely life. My wife divorced me in 2006 and I have lived alone since. I've tried to find a wife, but I've never met anybody. In my loneliness I have felt like taking my own life on numerous occasions, just to make the pain of soul from loneliness, and the pain of body from my neck injury go away; but I know God's Holy Spirit indwells me, and He is my friend that sticketh closer than a brother. My faith in God sustains me! Jesus said in Mark 11:22b, “Have faith in God.” My ministry has kept me going over the years, giving my a purpose for existing, so I can win more souls to Christ, and help feed God's sheep as His servant. There but for the grace of God, there go I! 

Most people don't know what it is like to be humbled and broken in life, to lose everything, but I do. I know what it feels like to have everything go wrong in life, and nothing ever returns to normal, with no light at the end of the tunnel. I know the hurt, emotional trauma,  and inexplicable pain of soul—from betrayal, divorce, family turmoil, losing my home, poor health, constant chronic neck pain, being alone as a man without a wife. I ordered a book by Pastor M.R. DeHaan (1891-1965) from Amazon.com titled, “BROKEN THINGS: WHY WE SUFFER.” I want to share with you a wonderful quote by Dr. DeHaan from page 59:

“The greatest sermons I have ever heard were not preached from pulpits but from sickbeds. The greatest, deepest truths of God's Word have often been revealed, not by those who preached as a result of their seminary preparation and education, but by those humble souls who have gone through the seminary of affliction and have learned experientially the deep things of the ways of God

The most cheerful people I have met, with few exceptions, have been those who had the least sunshine and the most pain and suffering in their lives. The most grateful people I have met were not those who traveled a pathway of roses all their lives through, but those who were confined, because of circumstances, to their homes—often to their beds. They had learned to depend upon God as only such Christians know how to do.” —Pastor M.R. DeHaan, “BROKEN THINGS: WHY WE SUFFER,” page 59; Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1948

I sure am glad I read that! My neck pain has taken away my social life, leaving me alone, and without a wife. Pastor DeHaan goes on to explain the flip-side of the equation, concerning complainers...

“The 'gripers' on the other hand, are usually those who enjoy excellent health. The complainers are those who have the least to complain about. But those dear saints of God who have refreshed my heart again and again and again as they preached from sickbed-pulpits have been the men and women who have been the most cheerful and the most graceful for the blessings of almighty God.

The Bible tells us distinctly that there is a special reward and a special crown which the Lord has prepared and laid up for those who suffer patiently. This principle is suggested by the incident recorded in I Samuel 30. 

David, along with 400 strong, healthy men, had gone out to seek the enemy. Two hundreds, however, had remained behind because they were weary and faint, probably because of some physical infirmity. These David had left behind to guard the camp and the equipment of those who went into the heat of the battle. After the victory had been won, the four hundred who had been active participants in the battle refused to share with those who had remained behind and said, 'We'll give them just a little bit, but we're going to take the spoils.

At this point, David stated the eternal principle in the words of 1 Samuel 30:24, 'As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.'

Those of you who remain by the stuff are not overlooked or forgotten by God: there is a very definite and special reward laid up for God's patient sufferers.

If you, child of God, are upon a bed of illness, if you are being troubled by pain or discouragement, remember that God will always use our suffering for His purposes. Our suffering silences Satan, our suffering enables us to glorify God, our suffering makes us more like Christ, our suffering makes us appreciative, and, ultimately, our suffering teaches us to depend on God.” —Pastor M.R. DeHaan, “BROKEN THINGS: WHY WE SUFFER,” page 60; Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1948

That is so encouraging and wonderful. That is what I have been doing all these many painful, miserable and lonely years in solitude—STAYING BY THE STUFF! I am not a great man, but I have been in the presence of great men; and moreover, I have a GREAT AND GLORIOUS SAVIOR! I am not an eloquent orator, but God has given me a desire and passion to write my heart out for Jesus Christ! I am a misfit around people, feeling out of place; but God is using me to reach tens of thousands of people in cyberspace with THE TRUTH! My WEAKNESS is the Lord's STRENGTH. 2nd Corinthians 12:9, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” May I be WEAK ENOUGH for God to make use of!!! 

“Everything that's hard and complicated about salvation is God's side of it!” —Pastor Jack Hyles, a precious quote from the MP3 sermon, “Yea, Yea, And Nay, Nay!”