A Great Answer To What Is, Sadly, A Common Question...

Philip Ryken, the pastor of Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, writing over at Reformation 21, answers the question, "What, in hell, has God ever done for us?":

Like many Americans, I have been watching with keen interest as the tragic events have unfolded at the Sago mine in West Virginia. Miner family member John Casto has been widely reported as saying that after the first report (12 miners were alive), people at Sago Baptist Church "were praising God," but after the second report (12 miners were dead), "they were cursing." As I heard these words, I couldn't help but think of Job, who had praise to give both when God gave and when God took away (Job 1:21).

One television report was more explicit about the cursing. Apparently, when the worst of all news had come, the pastor of the church told people to keep looking to God. But one man shouted, "What in hell has God ever done for us?"

The question is well worth pondering: What, in hell, has God ever done for us?

The answer, of course, is that in Christ, God himself has suffered the hellish agonies of the cross. We believe that Jesus descended into hell. That is to say, we believe that on the cross Jesus suffered the full fury of divine wrath and the utter despair of being separated from his Father's love -- the very essence of hell.

What, in hell, has God ever done for us? He has suffered the full penalty that our sins deserve. And now, having been to hell and back for us, Jesus has the empathy of grace to give every grieving, anguished, and enraged person who has lost what they love in life. There are some people in West Virginia who know this, and some who don't, and we should keep them all in our prayers.