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Satan not only slanders us before God (Revelation 12:10), he also slanders God before us, and whispers words such as these into our ear, ‘If God loves you as he says he does, then why are you suffering as you are? Surely a God who loves you would have kept you from this? Surely a God who cares for you would have given you what you’ve been asking for? Don’t the trying circumstances you find yourself in only go to show that his claim to love you is empty and hollow? He may love in word or in tongue, but not in deed and in truth.’ God’s love in action And when we encounter trying circumstances such as these, even the most spiritually mature of us can be tempted to question the truthfulness of God’s claim to love us. One day, the children of God will be delivered from all this but for now, believers, as well as unbelievers, have to grapple with bereavement, ill-health, financial concerns and family problems. It is surely no coincidence that approximately a third of all the songs in the Psalter are psalms of lament songs composed against a backdrop of great pain and heartache. Suffering is part and parcel of life after the Fall. Doubting God’s loveĬhristians cannot expect to be exempt from suffering while they live in this world. Why? Because we are in constant need of reassurance that God does indeed love us.
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We may have visited the cross in repentance and faith for the very first time many years ago, but it is vital that we make regular return journeys there to keep fresh in our thoughts the atonement which Jesus made for us. Why did Jesus command us to remember him in this way? Because he knows that however far along the road we may be, we need to return continually in our mind’s eye to the place where our pilgrimage began: the foot of the cross. We observe this sacrament because our Lord commanded us to do so: ‘Do this in remembrance of me’ (1 Corinthians 11:24). The format of the communion service varies from church to church but the focus, of course, is always the same: the perfect sacrifice which Jesus Christ offered to his Father for the sins of his people. Over the last decade, it has been my privilege to lead many congregations of God’s people in celebrating the Lord’s Supper.