Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

Our Suffering Advances the Gospel {No Matter What Monday}

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Have you ever wondered if there was a purpose to your pain? Knowing there’s a purpose behind our difficult circumstances doesn’t take away the sting of suffering, but it can give us a glimmer of encouragement and help us persevere.

This month, we’re looking at God’s purpose in suffering. Our goal isn’t to wrap up suffering in a neat package with a bow. There’s nothing pretty about pain. But in God’s kind sovereignty, He brings beauty from brokenness as He weaves our trials into the tapestry of His purposes. 

In Philippians, Paul addresses friends who were upset about his imprisonment. These friends feared Paul’s imprisonment would end his travel and preaching. They may have worried that the entire Christian movement would fizzle out and die. But Paul reassured them that the gospel continued to go forth: 

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Philippians 1:12-14)

Your suffering may look differently from Paul’s, but God will use it to advance the gospel. Maybe your suffering is private. No one else even knows. But as you grow in dependence on the Lord, you’re advancing the gospel in your own heart. If your suffering is known by your family or a small circle of friends, they can watch you run to the Lord with your pain and be encouraged to trust Him more. 

Whether you’re encouraging thousands with your story or quietly walking in obedience each day, rest assured that in God’s economy, no suffering is wasted. Your trials are advancing the good news of God’s faithfulness, mercy, and grace. 

No matter what we face this week, our suffering advances the gospel. 

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Yet I Will Rejoice {No Matter What Monday}

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We’ve been taking a journey this month with the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. He’s pleaded with God to relieve his suffering, heard a troubling answer, reminded himself of God’s character, and received comforting promises from his God. The book of Habakkuk concludes with a beautiful prayer of trust and hope that Habakkuk wrote to be sung by God’s people in worship. 

After remembering God’s faithfulness to His people throughout their history, Habakkuk ends his prayer with these words: 

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

These verses sounds strange to our modern ears . . . no figs or olive oil? Problems with the flock? But this is describing a natural disaster of huge proportions for an ancient, agrarian society. For Habakkuk, if the trees don’t blossom and the flock is gone, there is no food. Habakkuk is saying, “Even if the world falls apart and I lack basic necessities like food, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.” 

What’s your “even if”? If the cancer comes back . . . if you never get married . . . if you suffer another miscarriage . . . if your prodigal child never returns home . . . if your relationship with your estranged family member never improves . . . yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will take joy in the God of our salvation. 

Habakkuk isn’t trusting that his circumstances are going to get better – he’s trusting who God is, no matter what. He knows God can and will keep all His promises. He knows God is ruling and reigning over all things. The Lord is his strength as he seeks to live by faith, remembering that the One who’s been faithful in the past will be faithful throughout Habakkuk’s uncertain future. 

No matter what you face this week, find your joy and your strength in the faithful Lord. 

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The Lord is in His Holy Temple {No Matter What Monday}

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This week we’re continuing in the book of Habakkuk, where we see a conversation between God and a suffering prophet. Habakkuk cried out to the Lord for help, and God told him that He would bring the Chaldeans to oppress the people of Judah. (This was not good news!) As the conversation continues, God tells Habakkuk that He will eventually bring justice and punishment to the wicked Chaldeans. There will be suffering and hardship, but deliverance will come (Habakkuk 2:5-19). 

Then God speaks these words of comfort to Habakkuk: 

“But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

When I first read these words, they didn’t strike me as greeting card material. I haven’t yet shared this verse in a “thinking of you” card. How can we find comfort in these words? 

The Lord’s presence in His holy temple teaches us that He is ruling and reigning over all things. Psalm 11:4 says, “The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.” He’s ruling from His throne, and He also sees us. He sees the sin of others that affects us. He sees our hurt. He sees our tears. 

And since we live at this point in history, after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord’s presence in His holy temple means even more. God the Son left the throne of heaven to dwell among us. Now His redeemed people have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us – now we are God’s temple. First Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

God says in Habakkuk 2:20 that He is in His holy temple – and Scripture tells us that we are God’s temple. What does that mean? It means God is with us. 

The words of this verse brings comfort to those who are in Christ because we know the Lord reigns from His throne and He resides with us in our suffering. 

No matter what you face this week, the Lord is in His holy temple. 

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God Can and Will Keep His Promises {No Matter What Monday}

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This month we’re looking at a conversation between a prophet and God in the book of Habakkuk. Last week, we saw Habakkuk cry out to God in his suffering. God answered that He is at work in the situation, but Habakkuk’s circumstances would get worse before they got better (Habakkuk 1:1-11). Habakkuk reminds himself of the truth of God’s character and then waits with eager expectation to hear how God will respond (Habakkuk 2:1). 

“And the LORD answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. ‘Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.’” (Habakkuk 2:2-4)

This phrase—the righteous shall live by his faith—is quoted three times in the New Testament (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:37-38). When we take all of these passages together, we see that the faith mentioned here ultimately points to faith in Jesus Christ.  

When we live by faith, we believe that God’s promises are true. We believe that Jesus Christ has battled our worst enemies—sin, evil, and death—and He is victorious. 

God put His power on display in the death and resurrection of Jesus—He has the power to deliver on His promises. 

And while we were His enemies, Christ laid down His life for us (Romans 5:8). He loves us, and we are His—He can be trusted to deliver on His promises. 

So as Habakkuk lives out God’s exhortation to “wait for it” in verse 3, he can take comfort knowing that God can and will deliver on His promises. This is how the righteous live by faith: we believe that God’s promises are true while we wait for His purposes to unfold. 

No matter what you face this week, you can have faith that God can and will keep all His promises to you. 

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