The Present Greatness of Christ

COVER LETTER

Dearly Beloved:

FEELING TRAPPED

I have excerpted the following letter from one of our readers. I believe it describes feelings that many Christians are experiencing right now.

Pastor David:

Your blog has been of great comfort these past few months. My family was dealt a devastating blow yesterday that has left us staggering under pain and confusion about God’s promises to us.

My parents have spent the last thirty years following God. When they married they offered their all to the Lord. This path has led them down a rough road. Their belief and great desire was ultimately to return to their hometown and create a place where God would allow them to minister to people who were weary and at the end of their strength.

Just as they finally seemed close to entering God’s promises to them, earlier this year my mother was diagnosed with bowel cancer. We continued to believe that God had his hand on the situation – even until yesterday, when she died from the disease.

My brother and I have been closely linked with our parents’ pain. As we have watched, it has been a testing place for our faith as to the provision and faithfulness of God. We know that God is the Lord over all, but it seems as though an iron sky of Satan’s control robs people of God’s blessing and life. People are trapped in pain and hopelessness, with no expectation of God’s miraculous protection or offer of life.

It is as though we are like elderly Abraham – only our son Isaac has been sacrificed, and after many long years we have no Option B. We held onto the hope that God would see us through, but this blow has robbed us and sent all of God’s promises spinning. After relying on the Lord, it feels as if he has left us in a place of uncertainty. We don’t know if we were deceived or how to handle the collapse of the future. Great fear and concern swirls around us. If you could pray for us, I would be very grateful.

I know this woman speaks for many burdened believers. Here is how I answer her and all others who face similar confusion and pain:

I too have friends and family who feel trapped in pain and hopelessness, without expectation of deliverance. They still love God but they are convinced all their options are gone. They feel destined to a life robbed of hope or change.

Perhaps you know what I’m talking about. We run out of words to describe our pain. Sometimes we can’t even pray, as if we are beyond all feelings. Yet deep inside our soul cries out for a word from God. We can’t hear another sermon or another word from man; what we hunger for is a clear personal word from the Lord. We know that this alone can bring us peace and assurance: just one word from his throne.

Let me share with you the word God has given me: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God…. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:12, 14).

Enter into his rest. You are sharing in the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our thanks to all who remember our missions to the poor, fatherless, widows and orphans around the world. For information on these many outreaches visit our website: www.worldchallenge.org/missions.

In Christ,
DAVID WILKERSON

DW:bbm 12.31.69