A Friend of Sinners

COVER LETTER

Dearly Beloved:

GOD IS FAITHFUL AT ALL TIMES!

Gwen and I recently spoke to a godly woman who has reached the end of her endurance. There has been such incredible suffering in her family. She wakes each day with a black cloud of pain hanging over her home. There have been so many prayers; she has spent hours calling on the Lord for help and her friends have stood with her in intercession.

But month after month goes by and things do not change. Just when she sees a ray of hope, things go back to the way they were, yet even worse. She hears a message or reads something that inspires faith and she tries to soldier on. But now she is totally worn out. She cries a lot. She can hardly sleep. She is far beyond asking why, why so much endless suffering and pain. Now she is simply hoping to see a little light at the end of the dark tunnel of sorrow.

She told us, “I have come to the place that I feel I have the right to give up. I’ve done everything God has asked of me. I have believed; I have sought him; I have been faithful in church and, in reading the Word of God. Yet I see no relief. I feel alone and helpless, depressed. I am numb because of the constant nagging thought that things will only get worse in spite of all my efforts to obey. So fight this thought: ‘I have right to feel as I do because I see no end of the suffering.’”

We are praying diligently for her and her family. We believe she will not faint in the battle and that the Lord will send help and encouragement. But what she said in her despair truly touched something deep inside my soul. Many, many godly believers have come to the same place of hopelessness, and in sorrow they also cry, “I have a right to quit the fight. I have a right to be angry. I have a right to question God. When will he answer my cry? Has God passed me by?”

In Job’s despair, he cried, “He has destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and my hope hath he removed like a tree…He count me as one of his enemies” (Job 19:10–11). Then he added this: “He has fenced me in so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness in my paths” (v. 8).

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Is this your battle? Is it the struggle of someone you know? Beloved, God is merciful. He will not turn from you in your trial. He will not hold it against you for expressing such thought when you are down and hurting. Job came out to a place of hope — and so will you.

Job 23:8–10: “Beloved, I go forward, but he is not there: and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand, where he does work, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

We would appreciate your response to these messages and word of hope. Your prayers for this ministry are needed. Your help in caring for all the widows and orphanages we support worldwide would be such a blessing to so many. God is faithful.

Yours in Christ,
DAVID WILKERSON

DW:bbm 6.12.06