by Mark Meyer, Guest Blogger

I recently completed reading Second Guessing God by Brian Jones. It offers great hope, instruction, perspective and a map for Christians struggling in the desert, facing difficult trials, dealing with doubt and battling the "why" questions. Brian provides a summary of the book in chapter eight. He explains:

Secondguessing_1God uses trials and hardships in our lives to accomplish five different areas of spiritual transformation. Through our trials:

  • We develop greater levels of compassion for those around us;
  • We experience God’s power in ways we normally wouldn’t;
  • We are enabled to see people, circumstances, God, and the world differently;
  • We develop deeper levels of faith; and
  • People far from God witness our perseverance and joy and are prompted to inquire about the source of our strength.

Here are some other key thoughts that caught by attention in Brian’s book:

  • "When we are broken by life, words like ‘God’s love’ and ‘He cares for you’ ring like cruel promises in our ears."
  • "When tough things happen, especially tragic events, our tendency is to quickly ask, ‘Why did God allow this to happen?’ Instead, the question I want us to begin to ask is, ‘What is God doing through this difficult circumstance?’"
  • "God often does his best work over long periods of time."
  • "Our brokenness lets us feel what others feel, and it gives us credibility when we reach out to others who are suffering."
  • "The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there."
  • "Our faith is about a relationship with Jesus, not an adherence to a set of intellectual ideas we can memorize and master."
  • "Just because we can’t feel God’s presence does not mean he has abandoned us. Sometimes God does his greatest work when we’re lost in the desert."
  • "Times of doubt and God’s absence are meant to be experienced in community with others."
  • "Trials have a way of allowing us to see what’s really important in life."
  • "People far from God are looking for one thing: the ability to look death in the eye and smile. They want hope. They want to know that there’s more to this world than a life that vanishes quicker than smoke from a fire."
  • "Find your life by losing your life in others. In doing so you’ll find that your own pain grows smaller and smaller each day."

Mark Meyer is a volunteer leader at Granger Community Church, friend, neighbor and husband of fellow blogger Kem Meyer.

Most Commented Posts: