Dr Paul Allen

“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them … Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the LORD” (Ex. 6:3, 6). Moses and all of Israel had given up on God . Now things were worse than they had been, there was no hope of freedom, and now their misery was more than they could bear. How could God let them down? Why had He not delivered them? Before we are too hard on Israel, let us consider our own history. How many times have we doubted God and asked, “Why have you not delivered me?” Man is weak-willed, demanding, and impatient. We find it so difficult to wait on the Lord, to trust in His timing, to look at the worst of situations as opportunities for God to show forth His power and glory. Like Israel, we are quick to doubt. God, who had been known to the patriarchs as El-Shaddai, the Almighty One, the Sufficient One, was certainly capable of delivering His people. A sniveling, vengeful, prideful human was not...

Image via Wikipedia “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:17 It is far easier to endure trials when we value the future over the present. A few years ago the popular Back to the Future movies dealt rather whimsically with the possibility of time travel , which always involved entering the future.  The recurring theme was that with all the complications of tampering with the future, it was better to live in the present.  Viewers could infer that, ultimately, it is not worth it to dwell a lot on the future. That is just the opposite of the apostle Paul ’s attitude about the future. He dealt with the profound certainties of what awaits all believers in the life to come. For Paul, the value of the future was another important reason he could endure life’s sufferings and trials. The temporal pain for him and us is inconsequential compared to what awaits us in Heaven (Rom...