When you read the little Old Testament Book of Ruth, you find a treasure trove of reminders of God’s sovereignty and goodness – especially in the midst of suffering.

Ruth, a foreigner, showed amazing faith and trust in the God of Israel, in the midst of her own personal struggles and tragedy… (the death of her father-in-law, her spouse, and certain poverty).

But here’s one lesson we learn from Ruth: Suffering fertilizes our faith.

Tragedy caused Ruth to trust God in a way she never would have before. Tragedy can either cause our faith to grow, or cause us to be bitter.

When my wife and I first got married, we planted some little azalea bushes in the front yard. One day, while we were at work, my dad came over to fertilize our lawn. In the process, he scattered the ferilizer pellets on our new bushes, which eventually killed them. What was meant to bring grown, misapplied, brought death.

Just like that fertilizer, suffering will either grow our faith, or diminish it. And that depends on what we believe about God.

Rom. 5:3-4 “…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…”

Suffering well means learning to trust God in our suffering. Rejoice because God is at work in your circumstances to grow your faith, to strengthen you, to produce endurance and character and hope, all for His glory AND for our good.

Some will consider the economy, and say, “I used to be blessed before I lost my job.” But we know blessings are far more than jobs or money.

Others will say, “Yes, I’m blessed. I have my health and my family.” This is a good answer, but it’s still incomplete. After all, there are those who are in poor health, or those who have lost family members. Are they not blessed?

The biblical idea of blessing is much different than our measures today. In Romans 4:7-8, Paul writes this (quoting Psalm 32)…

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

I am blessed if my sins are forgiven. And everyone who turns from their sins and trusts in Christ has been forgiven. Not only is that the truest measure of being blessed, but that blessing is forever.

Jobs will come and go. The economy will be up and then down. Health fades. Family members will pass away. But the one who trusts in the Lord is blessed - forever.

1. We’re forgetting about eternal life, or …
2. We’re temporarily blinded to the goodness and grace of God in this life.

Whatever the case, our sin always has a way of distorting reality.

Then we read Bible passages like this. …

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3, 9 - “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?… What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”

Solomon (in the lineage of Jesus) is writing God’s inspired word, telling the depressing truth of the sum of all life were it not for redemption. We live, we pay taxes and we die. As my crazy uncle used to say, “Thrills and bills - that’s what life is all about.”

Left to himself, the height of man’s existence on this earth is like a bad weather report - mostly cloudy with scattered moments of happiness and a 100% chance of futility.

But we know for those in Christ, this life is not all there is. The raw truth of no purpose in life outside of Christ should serve as a gracious reminder today of how merciful and good God is in rescuing us from a pointless existence by reconciling us to Himself in Christ. Through Jesus, we are called to glorify God. And only because of Jesus, we are saved … from our sin, from God’s wrath, and from a meaningless wandering in the wilderness.

My sinful heart is still tempted to aimlessness at times. But praise God for His word that reminds me that my purpose is His glory, in Christ Jesus. Praise His name forever.

Proverbs 30:8-9 - “… give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

Wow, what a prayer. Have you ever prayed this? I have not. But I’m going to start.

“God, I don’t want either riches or poverty. If I’m rich, I will be tempted to forget you. If I’m poor, I’ll be tempted to steal. Give me food for today, and let me be completely satisfied in you.”

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. -Psalm 90:14

• Jesus is God, has always been God, all things were created through Him (John 1)
• Holy, perfect God created the world in 6 days (Genesis 1)
• God created man in His image and it was good (Genesis 2)
• Man fell into sin (Genesis 3)
• Creation/Creator (Romans 1)
• All men have sinned (Romans 3)
• The wages of sin is death (Romans 6)
• We need a Savior! A Savior is coming (Isaiah 53)
• Jesus is our Savior! The four gospels (John 20)
• Jesus lived the perfect life, obeyed the law, and ransomed the church by atoning for our sin in His finished work on the Cross (Colossians 1)
• All believers saved by faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2)
• All those whom He saves He will keep (Romans 8 )
• Jesus will return (1 Thessalonians 4)
• All believers will be restored and we will spend eternity worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Revelation 4)
• We can pray with John in (Revelation 22) “Come Lord Jesus.”

Amen.

Deuteronomy 8:11, 17-18 - “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statues, which I command you today…Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant with he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

“Take care lest you forget the Lord your God. … Beware lest you say in your heart …”

… that it’s because of your hard work that you have blessings in your life. Imagine sitting down with your family to eat, and praying this prayer: “Lord, I worked hard for this meal. I provided for my family. Now we are going to eat the fruit of my labor.” No one would ever pray that, right? But if we could hear the sinful attitudes that our hearts often have, that’s exactly what our prayers would sound like.

I know for me, it’s so easy to look around at anything good in my life and think that it came to fruition because of my efforts and my diligence. Then, I can look at things that are not so good and think, “God, why haven’t you fixed those things yet?” How sinful and man-centered and blind that is.

But God is gracious to remind me often of HIS grace and mercy - that HE is the one who has caused everything that is good to be good. I am learning (slowly but surely) to see the evidences of grace in my life and in the lives of others and to be constantly reminded that nothing good has come from my hand. It is all God’s work, by God’s power, for God’s glory in Christ Jesus.

So what really causes us to be hopeless?

Some would say it is because of our desire to change, but we can’t. Some would say we are hopeless because we don’t feel like we matter, that we don’t have a purpose in life. Some feel hopeless in a bad marriage, in a dead-end job.

Although all of these can cause us to feel hopeless, none of them are the real cause.

But if we remove all the layers and get to the heart of it all, there are two sources of hopelessness (and they’re connected). The two greatest sources of hopelessness in this life are sin and death.

1. SIN - The most hopeless thing about me is my sin. But if my hope is in Christ, I know He has cleansed me of my sin. There’s no more condemnation for me, and that means that sin can no longer steal my hope.

Paul says:

“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:8-11)

2. DEATH - God made life, but because of sin, death entered into the world. Sin brings death, but Christ gives life. And if Jesus did not raise from the dead, we are still dead in our sins, and there is no hope.

Furthermore, Paul says:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Cor. 15:17-22)

The kind of hope I’m talking about is not diminished by death. That’s because the hope that Jesus gives does not find its greatest importance in this life. My hope is rooted in eternity. What Jesus accomplished in life was only fully realized in his death and resurrection. That’s why His life gives us hope – hope that assures us we are forgiven in Him, saved in Him, and will live forever with Him.

Sin and death are the greatest sources of hopelessness in this life, and Jesus has defeated them both. Those who trust in Him have their sins forgiven, and the promise of our own resurrection from the dead and eternal life with Christ.

Because Jesus lives, I have hope, because through faith in His death and resurrection, I am given new life. I am given hope!

I’m not talking about going into a booth where a priests waits on the other side to absolve you. I’m talking about the honest, vulnerable confession of sin from one brother to another. Genuine, biblical fellowship is impossible with out it.

Kevin DeYoung posted a great blog on this very topic. Here’s a sample:

“Some of us become Christians and just go on our merry way, never thinking of sin,
while others fixate on our failings and suffer from despair. One person feels
no conviction of sin; the other person feels no relief from sin. Neither of
these habits should mark the Christian. The Christian should often feel
conviction, confess, and be cleansed.

The cleansing, mind you, is not like the expunging of a guilty record before the
judge. That’s already been accomplished. This cleansing is more like the
scraping of barnacles off the hull of a ship so it can move freely again. We
need confession of sin before God like a child needs to own up to her mistakes
before Mom and Dad, not to earn God’s love, but to rest in it and know it more
fully.”

Read the whole post here.

Did you know there is a short sentence that you can use to open an opportunity for the gospel in just about any conversation? Here’s a great article by Donald Whitney (from “Simplify Your Spiritual Life”) that lays it out…

Over and over I’ve seen one simple question open people’s hearts to hear the gospel. Until I asked this question, they showed no interest in spiritual matters. But then after six words—only seventeen letters in English—I’ve seen people suddenly begin to weep and their resistance fall. The question is, “How can I pray for you?”

This may not seem like such a powerful question to you. Perhaps that’s because you hear it, or a question like it, quite often. Your Bible study group or your church prayer meeting asks for prayer requests every week. You may even see requests for prayer solicited each Sunday morning in the worship bulletin.

But realize that most people in the world never hear such a question. And while many churchgoers know that a minister is willing to pray for them, in some traditions they’re expected to make a special donation to the church for such services. So when you ask, “How can I pray for you?” and it’s obvious that you’re asking out of love alone, it can touch a person more deeply than you imagine.

This question is similar to one that Jesus Himself sometimes asked: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32). For what we are really asking is, “What do you want me to ask Jesus to do for you?” And by means of this question, we can show the love of Christ to people and open hearts previously closed to the gospel.

I had tried to talk about the things of God many times to a business-hardened, retired executive who lived next door. He was a pro at hiding his feelings and keeping conversations at a superficial level. But the day we stood between our homes and I asked, “How can I pray for you?” his eyes filled with tears as his façade of self-sufficiency melted. For the first time in seven years he let me speak with him about Jesus.

It’s a short, easily remembered question. You can use it with longtime friends or with people you’ve just met. It doesn’t seem too personal or pushy for those who’d rather give you a shallow answer just now, and yet it often leads to a full hearing of the gospel. You can ask it of people nearly every time you speak with them and it doesn’t get old. Just simply and sincerely ask, “How can I pray for you?” You’ll be surprised at the results.

(Seen on Justin Taylor’s blog at thegospelcoalition.org)

Because I can’t trust my memory, this causes me to write notes to myself, to keep important papers or bills coming due in plain sight. My wife walks in much grace and patience with me because she is an organizer, sometimes putting things in drawers or closets. From my perspective, those things may well have never existed. Out of sight - out of mind. I’ve just recently come to the realization that I have a hard time throwing things away because I assign memory to certain things, memories I don’t want to forget. Those who know this about me – some well-intentioned people - have encouraged me to take vitamin supplements to improve memory. But what those well-intentioned people don’t consider is that you have to REMEMBER to take vitamins!

(Ok, so my memory is not that bad.) And God has definitely provided grace to me in this area.
And since we live in a fallen world, our hearts are not always in tune with the truth. This causes us all to have a tendency to forget. Oh, you may not have trouble remembering where your car keys are, but we all have a tendency to forget the gospel, to have the desires of our hearts, and the noise of the world drowned out the whispers of truth when the Holy Spirit is pointing us to Christ and to His word.

That’s why I’m thankful that God is a God of remembrance, because He knows we forget. All through the Old Testament, God instructed His people to build altars or pile up stones or rename a city. This was to cause them to remember what He had done for them, how He had delivered them, or how He had brought judgment. For instance, the entire book of Deuteronomy (which literally means “second reading”) is Moses reading the Law to the people, reminding them of God’s commands and God’s faithfulness.
And when Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, He instructed them to share that meal often, now called the Lord’s Table, or Communion. They were to do this to remember His suffering on the cross.

Easter is time on the calendar when we remember the most amazing miracle in history – a miracle that sets Christianity apart from every other world religion – that Jesus rose from the dead.

It’s good to dwell on the Resurrection of Christ. We need to be reminded. But I think it’s important to see how the Resurrection is also a reminder in itself, a glorious event that is also signpost, a reminder of something even greater – and that reminder is the person of Jesus Christ.

Through the resurrection, we are reminded who Jesus is - the Promised Messiah. We remember what Jesus said - for us to repent and trust in Him, and to proclaim that news to others. And we remember who we are - sinners saved by grace, because Jesus died for our sins, and rose from the dead for our justification.