Page 30 - The Gate and the Way

thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

It is not wrong to ask God for relief from some distress, or trial, but we should always
keep in mind that it has come to us from God’s hands with good intent. When we come to
see suffering as a necessary part of our advancement into the image and likeness of God, we
will not be so quick to see only evil in our distresses. We may even come to say with the
Psalmist:

Psalms 119:71
It is good for me that I was afflicted...

I admire the apostle Paul’s attitude toward the suffering of his life. He learned to meet
each new affliction with contentment.

II Corinthians 12:9-10
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of
Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults,
with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am
weak, then I am strong.

Only a person who understands the necessity and purpose of suffering could find
contentment with it. May Yahweh have many sons and daughters in these last days who find
this place of contentment.