I recently read Be Still My Soul
From the book:
The deepest spiritual lessons come through suffering. It takes the deep water and the hot fire and the dark valley to teach us the walk of faith. I would not be able to state this with such authority if it were not for losing my first husband Jim. That shattering event precipitated a lifetime of learning rich spiritual lessons, writing and speaking about what I have learned, and holding on in ever-increasing faith to the One Who will one day receive me into His presence. The verse that came to mind when I received the shortwave message that Jim was missing was Isaiah 43:2: “When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God.” I can testify that He has never broken that promise. He kept those words through those five agonizing days while we five wives waited to discover whether our husbands were indeed dead or alive. He kept me through all the subsequent years. He didn’t give me a bridge over troubled waters, but He kept the promise that when I passed through the waters, He would be with me. His promise applies to each of us. The one thing that He requires of us in response to deep waters is acceptance. This acceptance is not passivism, quietism, fatalism, or resignation. Peace and joy and faith will not be found in forgetting, and they will not be found in busyness or aloofness or the submission of defeat. They will not be found in anger at the “unfairness” of it all. St. Francis de Sales said, “Accustom yourself to unreasonableness and injustice! God sees these things far better than you do, and permits them!”
Acceptance is hard, especially when we must set aside personal goals and ideals. I have been struggling recently with circumstances that I would love to change. I keep thinking that these things should be changed. But they have not changed. God, in His sovereignty, has allowed these circumstances.
Another quote:
The Lord has assigned you your portion and your cup; it is designated, measured precisely. Are you upset because you have been hindered from doing what you wanted to do, or perhaps what you thought God wanted you to do? Jesus Christ provides the way out of the labyrinth of the world into the freedom of the new creation. You will keep the same talents, the same circumstances, the same health, the same family, the same property, the same daily demands. But as someone has said, “A door has opened, and the crossing over to Christ has been made possible by acceptance.” In Acceptance Lieth Peace.
The realization of God’s sovereignty brings peace. He really is in control. Only trust in Him will bring us peace.
God was not asleep when John the Baptist got his head chopped off. His attention was not deflected when Stephen was stoned to death. God was still in heaven when His Son was nailed to the cross. Jesus Himself knew what was going to happen to Him. He agonized in the garden over His approaching death. He had not, however, worked His way through the five stages of grief. Instead, He showed us the shortcut to peace, which is acceptance. He acquiesced, trustingly, to the will of His Father.
To those of us who are not theologians, does it matter whether a thing is ordained or merely allowed? Are events that seem to be out of control caused by God? Or does He allow them to occur at the hands of human beings? You can spend a lot of time pondering that one and end up pretty much where you started. In either case, the purpose remains the same – our sanctification. God is in the business of making us walking, breathing examples of the invisible reality of the presence of Christ in us.
God is using circumstances to make us Christ-Bearers to the world.
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September 15th, 2008 - 9:11 pm
Lately, I’ve been living by those words.. in acceptance lieth peace! Psalms 16:5 is one of my favorite verses. Several years ago I read everything E.E. had written on that particular scripture. It was life changing.
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September 15th, 2008 - 9:18 pm
“The deepest spiritual lessons come through suffering. It takes the deep water and the hot fire and the dark valley to teach us the walk of faith.”
That is so true….and right in line with what God is teaching me……it’s so very true!!!
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September 16th, 2008 - 9:18 am
I love this book! Thank you for the great reminders from it! I am living them today
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September 16th, 2008 - 10:43 am
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I love this woman.
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September 16th, 2008 - 8:14 pm
Thank you for the reminders through Elliot’s excerpts. It is definitely something I needed this day and it seems to be the theme of the past two years of my life. The Lord has blessed me so much through Elisabeth. Her books have been an anchor for me.
Erika
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September 21st, 2008 - 9:47 pm
Thanks for sharing the thoughts of Elisabeth Elliot. I hve heard her speak a few times in person and was blessed by her words then and when she had her radio broadcast. Have you read/listened to Nancy Leigh DeMoss? She took the time slot of Elisabeth on our local Christian station ( http://www.reviveourhearts.com/ ). Also, have you read Steve Saint’s book End of the Spear? What did you think of it?
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