Following on from my thoughts from a couple of days ago, I read this pasage about John Donne in Philip Yancey’s Invisible God.

“The crutial issue, the one that faces every person who endures a great trial, is that same question of response: Will I trust God with my pain, my weakness, even my fear? Or will I turn away from Him in bitterness and anger?”

It strikes me that we are too ready to want God to take away our problems but not willing to trust Him with them. In an earlier quote from the same book Yancey points out:

“Christians in affluent countries tend to pray, “Lord, take this trial away from us!” I have heard prisoners, persucuted Christians, and some who live in very poor countries pray instead, “Lord, give us strength to ber this trial.” “

Provided we are not walking in disobedience, shouldn’t we be trusting that wht we are experiencing is what God wants us to be experiencing, whether that is good or bad. Maybe we need to be learning more in our sufferings; drawing closer to Him in those times; and seeking to bring glory to Him in them, not necessarily through deliverance from them.