The older I become, the more I realise the dangers of preaching.
As a preacher gives his sermon, he has a clear picture of his goal. But if the sermon is misunderstood and wrongly applied, it could cause great pain. For example, the preacher says, “God loves you.” It is so easy to then believe that because God loves you, nothing bad will happen to you. That may be implied, but it is not true.
Yes, God loves me, but that does not mean that nothing bad will happen to me. There is a little portion of the Bible seldom preached on, John 16:33, which states: “In this world you will have trouble.”
It is a universal truth. We will have trouble.
Now it is easy to think, ‘I have trouble, therefore God does not love me’ or ‘He does not care’. You may even conclude that God gets some pleasure out of your pain. You have been warned. Expect trouble. But that is not the whole picture. There is another verse that has helped me during tough times. It’s Hebrews 13:5, which states: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
It is so nice to know that God’s commitment to me is, ‘Don’t worry, you are not alone’.
Next time something unpleasant happens to you, remember – bad things will happen, but He loves you.
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