“God doesn’t always spare calamity.” This is a quote in a message John Piper tells us in a sermon titled “Sustained by Sovereign Grace” which I have been listening to on my MP3 player recently.
When I became a Christian I never realized that there would be such trials and tribulations. (Eph 6:10-12) I didn’t imagine that life would be bliss and all difficulty would be removed, but I thought I would be following a God that would spare me from most of my pain and troubles. Have you ever been there? I guess I just thought God was now on my side and everything was going to be much better than before.
Well, everything is better than before but it took many years for me to understand what God’s Grace really is. For me it was something that was supposed to spare me from pain, but when pain occurred in my life I was questioning my faith and my God. I have come to understand over the years that I have a Savior that helps me endure difficulties rather than having to handle them on my own. God’s grace doesn’t always keep us from hardship. It does however sustain us to be able to walk through them in His strength.
Here is a simple poem Piper wrote for this sermon:
Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.
I encourage you to download this mp3 file and listen to it for yourself. An amazing message regarding God’s Sovereign Grace.
MP3 Audio
Direct link
http://www.desiringgod.org/download.php?file=http://media.desiringgod.org/audio/1996/19960616.mp3
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