It is powerful to praise God in any season, but these are the most precious praises of all, when we cling to Christ in life’s most horrible moments, knowing that he has walked our path, felt our barb, received our nail, and that suffering is precisely the place where we will know him best (Philippians 3:10).Crying in front of people doesn’t come easy for me. Though you slay me, yet I will praise you. So it is in our times of greatest pain and loss, when we do not curse the one who is in control, but instead fall to our knees and utter with Job: You gave, and you have taken away blessed be your name, Lord. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Peter answers just as powerfully as he does when Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15) - if not more powerfully, given these circumstances. John 6:66 tells us, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” Jesus then says to his disciples, “Do you want to go away as well?” (John 6:67). The once-adoring crowds have raced for the exits. There Jesus has just scared off a large crowd with some of his most controversial and misunderstood teaching in all the Gospels. Such anguished allegiance brings to mind Peter’s great declaration to Jesus in John 6. My desire to have this pain removed, or this loss restored, or these hurtful circumstances altered, must not eclipse my desire for the God who is powerful enough to remove it, or restore it, but is loving me in a way that is greater than I can understand. But such a supernaturally inspired testimony to God does testify, Even as great as this pain is, God is greater. By no means does such praise mean the pain is lessened.
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