Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life-gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life.
Oswald ChambersRead
To choose suffering makes no sense at all; to choose God's will in the midst of our suffering makes all the sense in the world.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of accepting God's will during times of suffering, rather than choosing to suffer for its own sake.
Oswald Chambers highlights the profound insight that while suffering is an inevitable part of life, it is our response to that suffering that defines our experience. Choosing to align with God's will during these challenging times not only provides meaning but also brings a sense of purpose, transforming suffering into a pathway for growth and understanding.
In practice
In a sermon discussing faith during trials, one might use this quote to illustrate the need for purpose in suffering.
Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life-gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life.
Never make the blunder of trying to forecast the way God is going to answer your prayer.
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God.
When we preach the love of God there is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with His love at the center of that holiness.
It is much easier to do something than to trust in God; we mistake panic for inspiration.
Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion.
An old man was asked what had robbed him of joy in his life. His reply was, "Things that never happened."
Civilized discourse demands critical thinking, self-reflexiveness, sober-headed analysis.
Any critic is entitled to wrong judgments, of course. But certain lapses of judgment indicate the radical failure of an entire sensibility.
Every (stressful thought) is a variation on a single theme: This shouldn't be happening. I shouldn't be having this experience. God is unjust. Life isn't fair.
Mrs. Cadbury: Tell me what you know about yourself. Anne Shirley: Well, it really isn't worth telling, Mrs. Cadbury... but if you let me tell you what I IMAGINE about myself you'd find it a lot more interesting.
Precepts or maxims are of great weight; and a few useful ones on hand do more to produce a happy life than the volumes we can't find.
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