Responding to Pain

On this side of heaven, our vision will be dim. We do not have a blind faith—but only because our faith is in a sovereign, omnipotent God, not because we can see every step in front of us for miles (that wouldn’t actually be faith, after all). Sometimes our steps are confident, sometimes slow and painful. But whichever, God always goes before, protects from behind, strengthens from below, lifts from above. We are surrounded. We may not always feel His presence, but we can always know it is there, because that is a promise. “He has said, ’I will never leave you nor forsake you.’  So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” {Hebrews 13:5-6}

Life “lived by faith” {Galatians 2:20} is rarely easy. Maybe not so fun at times. But in the center can be found a haven of sweet peace and joy.

I’ve had life shatter before my eyes…a time or two. I’ve allowed some of those times to fling me at my Savior’s feet and cry out desperately for Him. Other times I’ve stubbornly clung to the idea that “I can do it myself.” In all those times, I experienced pain. In a few of those times, in the midst of the pain, I’ve experienced a precious Presence, a comforting peace, a joy beyond comprehension.

The heart of God is that one day pain and evil and all that goes with them will be dissolved. One day Jesus will wipe the tears from my eyes, and O what an experience that will be! But for now, God has a plan for the pain.

God is on a mission to draw people to Himself. He woos and waits… In His sovereignty that we can’t fully understand, He is in control of the outcome of each soul. Not everyone will come, but many will respond. And God doesn’t stop pursuing people once they’ve been saved. God pursues first for salvation and then for sanctification.

God is at work all around me, all around you…in me, and I pray in you as well. Sometimes that work involves pain. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant” {Hebrews 12:11}. But there’s more to life than meets the eye, for the writer of Hebrews continues, “but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Will Jesus find me faithful when He returns? Will He find you faithful? Are you, and am I, willing to be “trained” by the painful circumstances of life?

 

 

Sometimes God asks very difficult things.

Waiting.

    A “no.”

        To love where love is not returned.

            To turn the other cheek.

To take the next step with my eyes fixed on the One who goes before me, having no earthly clue what I am doing.

God is working, and as one song we sing occasionally says, “though there’s pain in the offering,” I want to be where He wants me to be, to be a part of His work. I want to be faithful. I want to live by faith…

“ Therefore, since we are surrounded

by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us also lay aside every weight,

and sin which clings so closely,

and let us run with endurance

the race that is set before us,  

looking to Jesus,

the founder and perfecter of our faith,

who for the joy that was set

before him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and is seated

at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners

such hostility against himself,

 so that you may not grow

weary or fainthearted.”

{Hebrews 12:1-3}