Jesus doesn’t explain why there is suffering, illness, and death in the world. He brings healing and hope. He doesn’t allow the problem of evil to be the subject of a seminar. He allows evil to do its worst to him. He exhausts it, drains its power, and emerges with new life.
Proof
Frederick Buechner
It is easier to assume that nothing that lies beyond the reach of our five senses is entirely real than to acknowledge that what we know about reality through the five senses is roughly the equivalent of what an ant crawling across the front page of the New York Times knows about the state of the world.
Martin Luther
I can’t understand what must be in a man’s mind if he doesn’t feel seriously that there is a God when he sees the sun rise. It must at times occur to him that there are eternal things, or else he must push his face into the dirt like a sow. For it’s incredible that they [the planets] be observed to move without inquiring whether there isn’t somebody who moves them.
Ted Dekker
“Where is God? Where can I find him?” we ask. We don’t realize that’s like a fish swimming frantically through the ocean in search of the ocean.
George A Buttrick
We demand proof of God, forgetting that if we could prove God we would be within the compass of our rationalities, and then our logical mind would be our own grotesque god.
William Thomas Walsh
Peter and his fellow apostles …became more and more convinced that their master had truly risen. In fact, they were so sure of it, that they spent the rest of their lives going about the world teaching it as the chief and fundamental reason why men should accept Him as Christ. To men of their sort with almost no resources, this meant a perpetual and staggering record of self-sacrifice, with constant hardship, suffering, persecution, and nothing to look forward to at the end but a bloody death like His. Such men do not ordinarily get themselves crucified or beheaded for an illusion, much less for a lie.
Watchman Nee
Many times I like to think of God’s Word as God’s pocket for His work. God put all His work into His Word. If God were standing among us today, and He wanted to show us His Son’s work and the proof of this work, how could He do it? He put the work of His Son’s cross in his Word. He also put the proof of His Son’s resurrection in His Word. Today God communicates all these things to us through His Word. When we receive His Word, we receive the proof of His work. Behind the Word are the facts. If there were no facts behind the words, the words would be empty. Behind the words there surely are the facts. God has placed the work of His Son in the Word and has communicated this Word to us. When we believe in His Word, we are believing in Him.