Having The Answers Is Not Essential To Living. What Is Essential Is…

…the sense of God’s presence during dark seasons of questioning. - Ravi Zacharias

Having the answers is not essential for living, but so often having the answers is precisely what we want. We may ask God why certain things have happened. Yet, having the answers is not essential, but what is essential is the sense of His presence during the inevitable dark seasons; when questions remain unanswered.

This is a guest post by Beth Harris. She is a wife, mother, Bible study leader and volunteer editor for markalanwilliams.net.

I remember as a young child, that my dad was deployed overseas for 13 months as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. My younger brother and I didn’t have all the answers for his absence. But we had our mother and that was more important than having all the answers about dad.

Each night as mom put us to bed, she lowered the volume of the television, so we could fall asleep; and I became afraid. That’s because I had learned to associate the sound of the TV with her presence; and as the only parent home, I needed reassurance that she wasn’t going anywhere.

So, when I couldn’t hear the TV, I would call to her, “Momma, are you still there? I can’t hear the TV.” She would patiently answer “I turned it down, so you could sleep.” Then I would respond, “Could you turn it up, so I know you’re still there?” She would increase the volume, and I would easily fall asleep, with the comforting knowledge that she was near me.

So often we want to have answers in life, especially during times of suffering. God does give many answers in His Word, yet some remain hidden. While it’s nice to have answers, what is more important is that we have the assurance of His presence, which is infinitely better.

Perhaps, you may be going through a difficult time and have wanted to ask: “God, are you still there?”

Job and others in the Bible went through dark times. They had questions and wanted answers. Just like them, we may wonder why God has allowed something painful to happen to us.

• Job 3:23 says, “Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?” (NIV)

• Psalm 10:1 says, “O LORD, why do you stand so far away? Why do you hide when I am in trouble?” (NLT)

• “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13 NLT)

Having questions is normal as long as we allow them to draw us closer to God and not create more distance.

Suffering has a way of causing us to question God and our faith. But, God doesn’t owe us an explanation and even if He gave us one, most likely, we wouldn’t understand.

Romans 11:33 says, “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!” (NLT)Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “’My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the LORD. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’” (NLT)

It’s hard to accept, but the truth is we will not have all the answers to our questions in this lifetime.

But, a lack of answers doesn’t mean God is absent or that He doesn’t care. Unanswered questions give us opportunities to trust and demonstrate faith in Him; without which it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Having the answers to our questions is not essential for living, but what’s important is an unshakeable faith in the character of God in spite of difficult circumstances.

Dark seasons of questioning are inevitable, but they are only temporary. What’s necessary is that we sense His presence; because it’s there that we find His peace, comfort, joy and security.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (NIV)Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (NIV)Isaiah 63:9 says, “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.” (NIV)“The LORD replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’” (Exodus 33:14 NIV)

What can we do? We can pray during times of questioning and suffering. In addition, there is no substitute for reading the Bible for encouragement. Also, we can look forward to the after-life, when as Christians will see and know all that is concealed from us now.

1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (NLT)

What question would you like to have God answer?

Please click here if you would like to accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior now and read more about the next steps that you can take to grow spiritually in your new faith.

Your thoughts are welcome! You can leave a comment below.

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

Having the answers is not essential to living. What is essential is the sense of God’s presence during dark seasons of questioning. –Ravi Zacharias | CLICK TO TWEET

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• Podcast: Why Aren’t My Prayers Answered?

• Podcast: How should I pray when suffering?

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• How I Moved from Doubting My Salvation to Assurance

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• My Classmate Bart Ehrman’s Hopeless Response to Suffering

• The Best Quick Biblical Answer to Suffering

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• 6 Solutions When You Suffer for Doing Good

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NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth

Good People Don’t Go To Heaven; Forgiven Sinners Do.

People don’t go to heaven as a result of living good or morally upright lives, but only because they have admitted they are sinners in need of forgiveness and have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

This is a guest post by Beth Harris. She is a wife, mother, Bible study leader and volunteer editor for markalanwilliams.net.

I’ve never considered myself a good person and prior to becoming a Christian, that’s precisely why I thought I wouldn’t go to heaven. I guess I can be thankful that my sins were blatantly obvious to me and others; because no one had to convince me that I was a sinner. Growing up Catholic, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know the “10 Commandments” and regularly break them.

I was always getting into trouble as a teenager, both in school and at home. Trouble seemed to follow me, and I remember being grounded for 2 months at the beginning of my freshman year in High School. I was the black sheep and rebellious one, and my pattern of sin only escalated and worsened until my life was out of control. But, at the age of 27, God begin to woo me into a relationship with Him, and when by His grace, I understood the message of forgiveness through Jesus’ death on the cross, I received Him as my Lord and Savior.

I’m not going to heaven based on my goodness, but based on the goodness of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice that paid for my sins.

Most people think they will go to heaven because they believe that their good deeds will outweigh their bad ones; and God will grant them entrance. But the truth is that we can’t be good enough to merit admission into heaven because, we have all sinned and perfection is required.

Isaiah 53:3 says, “Everyone has turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (NIV)

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23 NLT)

No one deserves to go to heaven, and for those with sins that are less egregious than mine, the Bible says that even if we break one commandment, it’s as though we have broken all of them. If we’re honest, we can agree that we have all broken at least one commandment.

James 2:10 says, “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.” (NLT)

Some people may appear to be good or to have a good heart, but it’s because their sins are subtle and less visible. They may have secret and inward sins such as: pride, coveting and jealousy, lust, and sins of the heart and mind.

Jesus took it one step further when He said in Matthew 5:27, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (NKJV)

Truthfully, we don’t deserve to go to heaven because of our sins, the payoff of which is death.

Instead we deserve to be separated from God in a real place called hell; but God has a wonderful solution and plan for us to go to heaven and it includes the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:23 says, “Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (CEV)

Thankfully and mercifully God has provided a way for sinners to be forgiven and go to heaven, because the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. It’s purely by His grace and there is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven.

We can only go to heaven, because God loved us so much that He gave his one and only Son Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life to die on a cross for our sins. He died in our place and He took our punishment for us, so we could go to heaven. Then He rose from the dead and lives forever as our faithful High Priest.

God wants to have a relationship with us and He wants us to go to heaven. That’s why He sent Jesus.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV)

God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV)

Jesus offers every person who trusts Him as their Lord and Savior, forgiveness and eternal life.

However, it isn’t enough to just know or agree with this information, because we must personally receive this gift of forgiveness and eternal life. We must ask Jesus to be our own personal Lord and Savior; and trust Him to save us. We do this by believing and receiving Him.

Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (NIV)

If we say that Jesus is Lord, that means He is now in control of our lives, directing us and if we believe that God raised Him from the dead we will be saved.

Romans 10:13 says, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (NIV)

As a Christian, we will still sin, but hopefully less and we can regularly confess our sins and receive forgiveness.

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (NIV)

Have you received the gift of forgiveness and eternal life?

Please click here if you would like to accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior now and read more about the next steps that you can take to grow spiritually in your new faith.

Your thoughts are welcome! You can leave a comment below.

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

Good people don’t go to heaven; forgiven sinners do. –Unknown | CLICK TO TWEET

For more FREE Inspirational Quote Cards you can use and share click HERE

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• What is the Worst Sin in the World?

• Six Reasons all Roads DON’T Lead to Heaven

• Hungry for Heaven

• How to Know if You are Truly Saved

• Podcast: Isn’t Christianity arrogant to claim to be the only way to heaven?

• Podcast: Since Jesus paid the price, is everyone heaven-bound?

• Why it is Better to Spend Time at Funerals Than Parties

• Five Questions for Those Who Think Many Roads Lead to Heaven

• Why Your Sincerity Can be Deadly

• 3 Motives for Rejecting Jesus

• Podcast: What exactly is hell?

• Podcast: Have I committed the unpardonable sin?

• How I Moved from Doubting My Salvation to Assurance

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• Please Don’t Call Yourself a Christian If…Please DO Call Yourself a Christian If…

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth

Turn To Me And Be Saved, All You Ends Of The Earth;

…for I am God, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:22

Everyone needs to be saved and in this verse; God is extending an invitation to all people to turn to Him and be saved, for He is God and there is no other.

This is a guest post by Beth Harris. She is a wife, mother, Bible study leader and volunteer editor for markalanwilliams.net.

Until I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at age 27, I had turned to many things and people in life for help. I knew Jesus was Lord; but I was terrified to turn to Him because of my many sins. The truth is I thought I’d gone too far to be forgiven and to be saved.

But, on New Year’s Day of 1989, I attended a Presbyterian church and heard a message about having a fresh start and a clean slate. I knew exactly what the pastor meant, because I wanted a new beginning and I felt dirty from sin. Then, I finally understood that because Jesus died on the cross for my sins, I could turn to God through Christ and be saved; and so I did.

In this verse, God is addressing all the inhabitants of earth to turn to Him and be saved. Maybe you have turned to other things instead of God, as I had prior to becoming a Christian. Which as I consider my actions now; I realize that I was actually, turning my back on Him.

To turn is to change direction and move toward a person or thing; and usually when we do, it’s because we need help.

We may not even realize that we need God’s help, but we do; specifically, we need His grace and forgiveness. That’s because we have all sinned and therefore, we need God’s help to be forgiven and to be saved.

The Bible says that we have each turned and gone our own way, but that God has provided a way for us to be saved from the punishment we deserve for our iniquities or sins.

We all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6 NIV)

To not be forgiven and therefore not be saved; is to spend an eternity separated from Him; in a real place of unimaginable torment called hell.

We turn to God to be saved, but it must be according to His plan which the Bible teaches is through Jesus Christ. His Name is the only name given by which we must be saved. There is no other name or way for mankind to be saved.

Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (NIV)1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.” (NIV)John 14:6 says, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (NIV)

Only Jesus, the Son of God, lived a sinless life; and only He, the Spotless Lamb of God could shed His blood as an acceptable sacrifice to God for the forgiveness of our iniquities; this means every single sin.

Sin is so deadly and it was our sins that cost Jesus His life. He was lifted up on a cross to die for us. Therefore, we must turn to Him to believe and receive Him as our personal Lord and Savior, so that we can escape sins penalty which is death.

And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:14-17 NLT)

The gift of salvation is open to all and if we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He will forgive our sins and help us to break sinful patterns and habits. One thing is for sure; we cannot have a personal encounter with Jesus and stay the same. He changes us in the best possible way.

There is One God who is Lord of all; our Redeemer who is mighty to save.

Isaiah 44:6 says, “This is what the LORD says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “I am the LORD and there is no other.” (NLT)

Why not turn to God through Jesus today and be saved?

Please click here if you would like to accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior now.

Your thoughts are welcome! You can leave a comment below.

Help Spread the Word! If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!

For more FREE Inspirational Quote Cards you can use and share click HERE | CLICK TO TWEET

Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

• What is the Worst Sin in the World?

• Six Reasons all Roads DON’T Lead to Heaven

• Hungry for Heaven

• Who Will Get the Biggest Mansion in Heaven?

• How to Know if You are Truly Saved

• Podcast: Isn’t Christianity arrogant to claim to be the only way to heaven?

• Podcast: Since Jesus paid the price, is everyone heaven-bound?

• Why it is Better to Spend Time at Funerals Than Parties

• Five Questions for Those Who Think Many Roads Lead to Heaven

• Why Your Sincerity Can be Deadly

• 3 Motives for Rejecting Jesus

• Podcast: What exactly is hell?

• Podcast: What God would send people to hell?

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth