Endurance: The Encourager Magazine

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Encourager: When God Is Silent

Articles

When God Is Silent

Dave's comeback, his return to the pitching mound after having more than half of his arm muscles removed, was a wild ride full of excitement, emotion, and gratitude toward God. Even when Dave broke his arm and tumbled from the mound, we basked in the glow of God's presence. Despite the setback, we could see God working. We didn't know what the future held, but we knew God was in it. So we praised God and enjoyed all the warm, fuzzy feelings that go along with it. It was great!

I remem... (continued)

Where is God When We Need Him Most?

Next to the Lord's Prayer, the 23rd Psalm is perhaps the most familiar passage in the Bible. Children memorize it. Composers set it to music. Commentators explain its deeper meanings. And for many, it provides great comfort during times of suffering. People who have endured great physical or emotional pain often tell how they have repeated the phrases "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want . . . The Lord is my Shepherd . . . " during their times of trial. Sometimes those are the only word... (continued)

God is Not Silent...He Speaks in Many Ways

Suffering often distorts our perception of God. C. S. Lewis, when he was grieving his wife's death, wrote that God seemed to have his eyes shut, his ears stopped with wax. After going through a crisis of faith, during which he doubted all that he had ever believed about God and Christ, Lewis went on to observe that "you can't see anything properly when your eyes are blurred with tears."

Despite the numbing deafness and blindness brought on by suffering, God doesn't change. He is stil... (continued)

What is God Really Like?

There are many ways we get to know people. We get to know them by intimate, face-to-face and eye-to-eye conversation. We get to know them by seeing how they relate to other people-how they smile when they play with a child, how they speak when they resolve a conflict. We get to know them by the way they leap into the air when the home team scores, by the way they sit down at the end of a long day. We can get to know them by what they read and what amuses them. We get to know them by observin... (continued)

God May Seem Silent But He Suffers With Us
When we suffer, when we feel abandoned in our pain, it can be so hard for us to know that God is with us or that He cares about our pain. Yet the Bible loudly proclaims the truth that God is with us, that we, in fact, cannot be separated from His love. Throughout the Scriptures we read that He cares about us more than we can imagine.

But God does not leave us with merely the cold, objective fact of His love. He is with us in our suffering not only by virtue of His divine presence but als... (continued)

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Recommended Quotes

Let me tell you about myself. When I suffer, I can never see an end to my trials. And when relief comes, I am so suspicious that the suffering is not (more...)

Writer Dorothy Sayers draws our attention to the reality of God's
intimate sharing in the pain of human existence. She observes:
For whatever r (more...)

Lord,
How desperately I need to know that You are near.
I feel alone, and frightened, and far away from the warmth of Your presence.
Is it so (more...)