It is not a sin for a believer to ask why; even our Lord asked this question as he hung in pain on the cross (see Matthew 27:46). We may sometimes cry out, “Lord, why are you putting me through this? I know it does not come from your hand, but still you are allowing the devil to harass me. When will it ever end?”
The secular demands an explanation for all the pain and suffering in life. They say, “I simply can’t believe in your God; I must have more love than he does because if I had the power, I would stop all this suffering.” I am not going to attempt to answer why there is famine, flooding, disease and destruction but I do know that as the world questions, I can respond, “He is weeping over what humankind has done.”
In my opinion, no person other than Jesus has suffered so much as Paul, in so many ways at the hands of so many people. At the very point of his conversion, Paul was forewarned of the sufferings he would face: “But the Lord said … ‘I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake’” (Acts 9:15-16). Jesus himself was declaring here, “I’m going to show Paul how greatly he will suffer for my name’s sake.” Likewise, if you have set your heart wholly on Christ, determined to know him intimately, you will experience hard times and afflictions that cold, carnal Christians know nothing about.
David writes, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).
While God did not bother to explain anything to Paul or bring an end to his sufferings, he revealed to him how he would make it through each trial with victory: “[Jesus] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9). You don’t need to understand it all — God’s grace is all you will ever need.
Be the first to react on this!
David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.