Hill - THE WAYS of GOD

of

Finding Purpose Through

Pain

Cherie Hill

Other Bestsellers by Cherie Hill

WAITING on GOD

Hope Being Gone

BE STILL

(Let Jesus Calm Your Storms)

empty.

(Living Full of Faith When Life Drains You Dry)

Beginning at The End

(Finding God When Your World Falls Apart)

FAITH Under Construction

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Cover Image: image copyright Triff, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

Scripture quotations marked "The Amplified Bible" (AMP) or "The Amplified New Testament" are taken from The Amplified Bible, Old Testament copyright 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation and The Amplified New Testament copyright 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved

Scripture quotations marked "ESV" are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright 2001, Wheaton: Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked "NLT" are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from The New King James Version / Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers., Copyright 1982. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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As for God, his way is perfect .

Psalm 18:30 (NIV)

Bonus Feature s:

(Let Jesus Calm Your Storms)

(Living Full of Faith When Life Drains You Dry)

Can God Be Trusted?

Life has taken some unexpected turns. Youve either decided to take detours in your life, or youve been forced into them... only to find yourself at a dead end . The twists and turns have distorted your sense of direction and you feel like youre spinning out of control. Youve daily been striving to take the high road, but without warning you find yourself shoved off the road altogether, and youve landed into a ditch (the valley).

It appears youre in the middle of nowhere. And when you need help the most ... theres not a soul in sight. If faith is supposed to be an insurance policy against the tragedies in life, it isnt paying off.

In a moment of solemn realization, youre surprised youve survived thus far; but in times like these, there have been moments when you wish you hadnt . The truth is, youre calling out to God, but He doesnt seem to be answering. Desperation is draining you and youre exhausted from the fight of faith. Doubt seems to be getting the best of you.

If God is at work, you cant see it . If God really loves you, you cant feel it . And if He doesnt show up in your circumstances, its the end of the road . As the reality of the situation sets in, you cant help but wonder if God really cares? You reason: He could have been there and He wasnt . He could have done something and He didnt . Looking back, your prayers even seem like cruel jokes... when you hoped for good, evil came ; when you looked for light, darkness came flooding in .

Yet, when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.

The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.

(Job 30:26-27 NIV)

You realize that what youve been wrestling with arent simpl e matters of faith, but feelings of abandonment and betrayal by a God who claims to love you. Your soul begins to cry out:

How long, O Lord, must I call for help?

But you do not listen!

I cry, but you do not come to save.

(Habakkuk 1:2 NLT)

As if things couldnt get worse, God remains silent and the emptiness intensifies. Why does God allow pain and suffering? C.S. Lewis so powerfully said,

God whispers to us in our pleasures,

speaks to us in our conscience,

but shouts in our pains:

It is His megaphone

to rouse a deaf world.

Albeit true, we just wish God wouldnt shout so loud! Are we really that deaf? Evidently so:

They have ears but cannot hear.

(Psalm 115:6 NLT)

Yet, as He shouts at us, why cant we see Him? Where is He when we need Him? He calls to us through the megaphone of pain, but when we come running, we cant find Him!

But if I go east, he is not there; if I go west, I do not find him.

When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns south, I catch no glimpse of him.

(Job 23:8-9 NIV)

Doubt steps into the picture once again, and the questions begin to spiral out of control, Does He know what were going through? Does He understand our desperation? Through the silence, theres a whisper in our spirit, and briefly we recall:

Even though Jesus was Gods Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.

(Hebrews 5:8 NLT)

For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we areyet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15 NIV)

Our spirit is calmed as we realize that a deep desire is satisfied: We not only want a God who knows all about our pain, we want a God who shares in it .

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering . (Isaiah 53:3 NIV)

Although we might argue that our situation is as painful as enduring the Cross, our argument just simply doesnt hold water. Our blood and water have not been spilled out, literally. As we humble ourselves at the foot of the Cross, in a brief moment of calm, we cant help but wonder, Does God know something I dont? Is it possible... that things look different from His perspective and He knows the bigger picture? Is it feasible that in my pain and suffering, He IS working all things for good and I just cant see it? Maybe, just maybe , God knows what Hes doing. In a moment of reckoning, we realize:

God allows in His wisdom

what He could easily

prevent in His power.

Graham Cooke

Even though that revelation is thought provoking and fairly faith stretching... knowing that God loves us and works all things for good, in the end, just doesnt seem to be enough . The begging question within our soul is, Can God be trusted? As we ponder the answer, we recall that Gods ways are higher.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9 NLT)

Were convinced that His thoughts are higher than our thoughtsas hard as we try, we cant figure God out . And His ways may be higher, but they certainly dont seem better . We made plans for our lives, but Hes determining our steps and taking us places we never wanted to go.

We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. (Proverbs 16:9 NLT)