Overcoming

For several weeks now I have been thinking about a couple verses. One is from John 16:33. "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." The other is from Psalm 34:19. "A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all." I can't get these verses out of my mind. I keep asking myself why do I keep seeing verses that talk about us having trouble? I've concluded that it must because we will have trouble. It is easy to be sucked into a sometimes common thought that when you become a Christian, everything will be good. Wouldn't that be nice? Sounds pretty comforting. I'll sign up for that. But it is really not the truth. The truth is, according to these verses, is that trouble is coming our way. Psalm 34:19 goes so far to point out that a "righteous man" may have troubles. So, how can we think that being a Christian excuses us from these troubles?  The greatest truth out of these verses -- our God has overcome these troubles. These troubles are going to be tough and we are not going to like them. But they are not so big that God runs away. He says that he has "overcome the world" and that he "delivers us from them all." Gary Thomas said, "God doesn't protect Christians from their problems -- he helps them walk victoriously through their problems." Now that sounds comforting -- knowing that God has overcome.

Amazed by His Love,

Terence