Lesson 93

How Can Looking At The Past Give Me Hope For The Future?

XXX“The most encouraging ways that I saw God at work were the changes that I saw taking place in my husband,” reflected Danielle. “At first, I had a hard time accepting that there was a genuine difference in him because we’d been through turmoil over his sexual sin over and over again in the past. He’d said the same things before and nothing had changed except that he had become better at hiding and better at lying. This time, however, I began to see differences, such as his willingness to meet regularly with our pastor for accountability, a lack of the defensive attitude that he’d exhibited in the past, changes in how he related to me sexually, and the beginning of what appeared to be a much more genuine walk with the Lord.”

One concept Danielle had struggled with was to rejoice in her sufferings. “My husband and I discussed what might be meant by the word rejoice in this context. Can I rejoice over the suffering that I have experienced as a result of my husband’s sins? Is that even possible or sensible? Perhaps what is meant is that we need to come to a point of acceptance and realization that God will use even those negative things to bring about growth in our lives. The Bible doesn’t say ‘rejoice for our sufferings’ or ‘rejoice about our sufferings,’ but ‘rejoice in our sufferings.’ In other words, even when we are in the midst of troubles, we can learn to rejoice because God does not abandon us in our difficulties, but will bring about good through them.”XXXX