Let the Afflicted Hear and Be Glad

I'm reading "Walking with God through Pain and Suffering" by Timothy Keller

Here are a few reflections so far....

Psalm 34:1-3
I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and be glad.  O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Keller says that "troubled times awaken us out of our sleep of spiritual self sufficiency into a serious search for the divine."  

Recently it seems so many people from our congregation at Middletown Christian Church are suffering.  Either they or their family members are suffering from cancer, cancer and more cancer.  My prayer for those struggling with cancer is that their suffering pulls them into a deeper experience of God's love and grace.  What else is there to pray?  Sometimes I try to pray too much instead of letting God just intercede in the silence.

I am thankful, however, that although I have walked through the furnace of suffering - I was not consumed.  I know that Jesus as the Son of God faced his own greater furnace of affliction when he went to the cross. God (Father, Son & Holy Ghost) is "walking with us."  He is truly "God with us."