The Works of God

I have been reading a little treasure of great thinkers and preachers and writers on the subject of death – and experienced wonderful encouragement!  O Love that Will Not Let Me Go: Facing Death with Courageous Confidence in God is a fantastic collection of works by names like Piper, Keller, Owen, Edwards, Luther, Spurgeon and Calvin, all brought together by Nancy Guthrie.

It is full of God-centered gems of truth, helping put language to things my family has experienced and probably yours has as well.

Like this one on why God deliberately calls weak, hurting people to reach out to other weak, hurting people:

One of the great lessons I learned through my illness is that God will frequently call us to come alongside others who are facing the same circumstance we are.  I call it “incarnational illness.” God deliberately intersects our lives with the hurting at the very moment when we hurt. Why does he do this? Because he knows that weakness is the perfect soil for growing dependence in him.  Stripped of our own gifts and resources, we are perfectly positioned to trust him.

John Eaves, “A Witness in the Way We Die,” in O Love that Will Not Let Me Go, edited by Nancy Guthrie, p. 75.

John Eaves’ God-centered illustration drew me back to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, and encouraged me to rejoice in a wonderful truth – our weakness allows Christ to look even more glorious!

But he (the Lord) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV).