In the Word: Suffering Well
Welcome to Hope Mommies’ In the Word devotionals. It is our desire that this series will aid you in getting in the Bible for yourself and discovering the joy that comes from hearing from God through the pages of His Word.
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.
You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.
Enter into the joy of your master.’”
Matthew 25:23
READ:
Part of suffering well as Hope Moms is remembering what God has given to our children and letting those truths minister to us.
As mothers, we remember that our children have been taken to new eternal life in Christ without any act of their own to save themselves. May they teach us to remember that we too are children before God in our faith and dependence. No act of our own brought our salvation; we bring as many good works to our justification as our children brought—none.
Jonathan Edwards said of this disposition of dependence and faith: “The soul of a true Christian, as I then wrote my meditations, appeared like such a little white flower as we see in the spring of the year; low and humble on the ground, opening its bosom to receive the pleasant beams of the sun’s glory; rejoicing as it were in a calm rapture; diffusing around a sweet fragrancy; standing peacefully and lovingly, in the midst of other flowers round about; all in like manner opening their bosoms to drink in the light of the sun. There was no part of creature holiness, that I had so great a sense of its loveliness, as humility, brokenness of heart and poverty of spirit; and there was nothing that I so earnestly longed for. My heart panted after this…that God might be all, that I might become as a little child.”
Before God, we are like little children. Needing sun and sustenance from Him daily, we humbly acknowledging our the need for Him in our spirit. We are humble, fragile, and prone to go our own way. But in our poverty, may God be all.
Also as mothers, we remember that our children are in heaven, fully and completely satisfied in God. May they teach us to remember that God is also our full and complete satisfaction.
John Piper wrote of the Christian’s heart of satisfaction in God: “The inner essence of worship is cherishing Christ as gain—indeed as more gain than all that life can offer—family, career, retirement, fame, food, friends. The essence of worship is experiencing Christ as gain…it is savoring Christ, treasuring Christ, being satisfied with Christ.”
He is our satisfaction, over career, fame, friends and yes—even family.
When we share, as mothers suffering loss, the joy and life that our children have right now, and the joy and life that we have in Christ, we proclaim the greatness of our God even in pain. And in this testimony to the gospel through suffering, we can rest assured that He is, indeed, well pleased.
REFLECT:
- What steps can you take today to find your satisfaction in Christ?
- What does Isaiah 58:11 reveal about the way the Lord satisfies us?
JOURNAL:
Read through Psalm 23. What does this passage teach us about being satisfied in the Lord even in the midst of shadow and death? Write your own prayer to the Lord, echoing the Psalmists declaration of satisfaction and acknowledging the treasure that you have in Christ.
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