Traditional African thinking has propelled us to think that someone else must be the cause of our suffering. Is this really the truth?
Was my baby born with a birth defect because my husband was unfaithful?
Trust the Lord, lean on him even as he gives you this extra burden to carry in life. Who knows? That might be the ultimate blessing for your life.
“The biblical teaching is that there aren’t these ancestral spirits that are standing between God and ourselves. That God immediately supervises the whole of human history.”
Topics & Timestamps
0:10 – Misinformation that has spread
0:57 – Wrong thinking steeped in traditions
1:37 – The Biblical teaching
2:17 – All have sinned
2:40 – The right way to understand trials
3:23 – Paul as an example
3:43 – Encouragement
Top Quotes
“The biblical teaching is that there aren’t ancestral spirits that are standing between God and ourselves.”
“We are to seek him to enable us by his grace to handle the trials of life. And it is as we handle those trials of life that we then begin to experience something of his grace, his comfort and his upholding.”
“Trust the Lord, lean on him even as he gives you this extra burden to carry in life. Who knows? That might be the ultimate blessing for your life.”
Other Content On This Topic
Suffering Is Real: How Can I Respond?
Are You Suffering? You Need God’s Simple Gospel
The Truth About Superstition
Did I Miscarry Because I Told People About My Pregnancy Too Soon?
Transcript
Women are Misinformed
A lot of women have been informed that when there is perhaps the loss of a baby, or a baby that is born with some kind of physical defects, some handicap, that it is linked to a husband who has been promiscuous. That this is now the tell-tale sign of what was taking place. In fact, sometimes it has even been made worse if in the experience of the marriage there has actually been evidence to that effect. And then a child is born this way – it is “Aha! this is the reason why.”
Such thinking is obviously wrong but it’s deeply steeped into our cultural thinking. Because the way in which we are meant to think is that nothing happens to an individual that is negative unless it has been caused by someone else who has done something wrong. And the ancestral spirits in the spirit world have consequently sent a curse upon that marriage, upon that family and so forth.
The Biblical Teaching
The biblical teaching is that there aren’t these ancestral spirits that are standing between God and ourselves. That God immediately supervises the whole of human history. And yes, he may punish us in this life for one thing or the other but there is no collateral relationship that immediately says because there has been some form of sin therefore this is the inevitable punishment.
According to the Bible, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So, if God was to punish us for our sin, well, all of us would be punished. We would all immediately be in fact brought through the gates of death into hell.
The Right Response
Rather, the way we are to understand whatever these things might be that might happen to our children who are born into this world, is that God who is sovereign has allowed this to happen. And therefore, we are to, as it were, to seek him to enable us by his grace to handle the trials of life. And it is as we handle those trials of life that we then begin to experience something of his grace, his comfort and his upholding hand.
A typical example is Paul who speaks about having a thorn in his flesh. Remember, he cried to God and the Lord answered him saying, “My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.” So, trust the Lord, lean on him, even as he gives you this extra burden to carry in life. Who knows? That might be the ultimate blessing for your life.
