Lisa Barry: Have you ever questioned God's sovereignty? How do you make sense out of a natural disaster, a death of a child or a financial devastation? It's during the down times in our life when we're prone to call God into account for His actions.

Well, today on Gateway To Joy, Elisabeth Elliot talks about this puzzling topic by leading us through the truth of Scripture to find our answers. Stay with us for today's edition of Gateway To Joy, coming up next.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says, "and underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend, Elisabeth Elliot, talking with you today about the matter of acceptance. When I think back to my early days as missionary in South America, in Ecuador, I think about the very first year in which some things happened which forced me not to discard, but to adjust the basis of my faith.

I had longed for years to be a foreign missionary and all my heroes were foreign missionaries. We children had the great blessing of sitting at the dinner table and hearing the stories of many, many missionaries. I have my mother's guest book that has 42 countries represented in it. And so we children were greatly blessed by hearing these stories. And five out of the six of us children became missionaries as well, and we were very thankful for that privilege.

And I thought that everything was just going to go swimmingly. And I did have six months in which I had to learn Spanish, of course, for the national language of that country, but I was not going to be using Spanish because I would have to go to various tribal areas where I would have to learn totally different languages. There was not the slightest resemblance between any of those three.

But what happened during that first year was, to put it mildly, devastating. There were four major blows to my faith.

There was a man who was helping me to learn the Colorado language, which was the language of the group of Indians who were called Colorados because they painted themselves bright red from head to toe. And this man was the only man in the world who spoke Colorado and Spanish. So he and I would work together very happily and he would teach me how to pronounce the Colorado language. And then I, of course, being a linguist I had to write it down. He had never seen it written before. So that was the job that I had. But we had only been working together for a few weeks when this man was murdered. And, of course, I couldn't imagine why God would have allowed the only man in the world who spoke these two languages to be murdered.

Well, did God explain Himself and tell me why? No. I felt that I was looking into a deep abyss from which there was no answer, whatsoever.

Well, during that year a tremendous flood took place in the eastern jungle where my fianc?, Jim Elliot, was working and the entire station on which he had been working was completely demolished.

Then, there were some other losses that took place during that year--all of the material that I had worked on after my informant had died, had been killed, all of that work was lost.

And I looked up to the Lord and I used those three letters that we so often use, "Why? Why, Lord, would you allow this to happen?" So an honest contemplation of what happened in that first year forced me not to discard, but to adjust the basis of my faith.

It is not a very robust faith which in order to survive, must ignore or distort the facts. True faith, I learned by facing the unanswerables, must rest in God Himself. True faith must rest in God Himself. We must allow Him to do in world and in you and in me what He wants to do. And the apostle Paul said, "I know Whom I have believed, and I am absolutely sure," one version says, "I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him" (2 Tim. 1:12).

So it is a matter of obedience, this matter of acceptance. Amy Carmichael wrote, "If Thy dear home be fuller, Lord, for that a little emptier my house on earth, what rich reward that guerdon were." And the psalmist said, "Be still my soul," which means, "behave yourself." Frequently we do not behave ourselves in a way which is seemly to a Christian.

In Proverbs we read about the weaned child. You know what it's like if you have babies, it takes a bit of doing doesn't it, to wean that child. There can be all sorts of frustrations and difficulties and the child get furious and angry but the weaning has to go on. Are we like a weaned child in God's hands?

Psalm 16:5 says, "LORD, You have assigned me my portion and my cup and have made my lot secure." That's one of my favorite verses. Psalm 16:5 says, "LORD, You have assigned me my portion and my cup and have made my lot secure."

I may be talking to some people who are quite angry because you don't feel that God has apportioned you the lot that ought to be coming to you. Are you angry with God? Has He made a mistake? Has He overlooked you in His giving out of the portions? Do you feel that He has not made your lot secure? You have to trust Him. You have to accept what He gives you.

So it is a matter of obedience and it is a matter of teachability. In Philippians 4:11-12 the apostle Paul says, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation."

Have you learned that secret of being content in every situation? Are you a complainer? Do you need to be taught the secret of being content in every situation? Well, I think all of us need to be taught that again and again. We need to review it, don't we? The Lord allows things to happen that are not to our tastes and preferences.

Just think, the apostle Paul was in prison when he was writing these things. We don't hear a word of complaint from Paul about that. He was writing some of his greatest writings right there in a miserable dungeon--perhaps filthy, perhaps cold, perhaps full of lice or rats, who knows. And he wasn't talking about those things; he was talking about these other wonderful things that he had been learning from his Heavenly Father.

Now, what did the Lord say to you this morning? Anything? Were you listening? Did you hear what He said? Did you ask Him what you want Him to tell you? What are you going to about it?

Well, I may be speaking to some of you who are complainers and you would be quite honest about saying, "Well, yeah, I do have to say that I complain about things." Well, you're listening to somebody who is a complainer, too, by nature. But the Lord teaches me graciously and quietly and over and over again that in acceptance lies peace. So if you are a complainer, I've got five suggestions for you.

Get your pencil; put down number one. Don't allow yourself to complain about anything at all--not even the weather.

Number two, never let your imagination run away with useless wishing that you were where you are not.

Number three, make no odious comparisons.

Number four, never dwell on what might have been--thank God for what is.

Number five, remember that tomorrow doesn't belong to you--it belongs to God.

And you who have a pencil and paper are saying, Well, how in the world does she expect me to get all that stuff down in five pieces when I haven't even gotten through number one? So I'm going to read it again.

Number one, don't allow yourself to complain. Are you a complainer? Well, you're listening to one who is a born complainer. But I hope the Lord is teaching me and has taught me some things. So don't allow yourself to complain about anything at all. Whatever your particular problems is that you want to complain about, don't complain about it--not even the weather.

Number two, never let your imagination run away with useless wishing, wishing that you were where you aren't, useless wishing.

Number three, odious comparisons, make no odious comparisons.

Number four, never dwell on what might have been--thank God for the present. Or if all you want to put down is, thank God for what is. Never dwell on what might have been--thank God for what is.

And number five, remember that tomorrow doesn't belong to you--it belongs to God. He holds your future.

Someone has said the heaviest part of sorrow is to look forward to it. Remember that you only have this one day. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not here. There is no point in looking forward to sorrow. The heaviest part of sorrow is to look forward to it. But the Lord will provide and in acceptance lies peace. That was one of Amy Carmichael's great mottoes. She had it in a large board over her bed, the bed in which she spent almost twenty years. In acceptance lies peace.

May the Lord give you the grace of acceptance today. God bless you.

Lisa Barry: As we close today's program, I want to ask you to pray. Pray that the women who tune into Gateway To Joy will find true contentment. Ask God to make His voice clear in their situation. Would you pray that each person who tunes into this program would walk away understanding God better than before? And for those who are suffering, ask God to lead them to Gateway To Joy so that they can find rest and hope.

The letters we get are proof that God is speaking to people who have never heard His voice before. We want to continue to be His mouthpiece. And that very thing happens each time you make the decision to support Gateway To Joy prayerfully. Would you be willing to intercede on behalf of those people seeking truth? Get in touch with us, won't you? Here's our address:

Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, NE 68501. You can also contact us by phone, 1-800-759-4JOY, 24 hours a day. That's 1-800-759-4569. A third option is our Web site, gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible and people like you make it possible.

Be sure and join us again on Monday when Elisabeth shares the secret of spiritual growth. Find out what that is the next time we meet for Gateway To Joy.