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Since Thanksgiving is the time of year where you stop to reflect and then scarf down half a turkey, I thought I’d go along with the cliche and state something on this blog that I’m thankful for.
As you can guess from the title, I’m thankful for pain. Does that seem paradoxical to you? It should, because it does to me, but yet it’s also a comfort. We often struggle with this philosophical “problem” of pain as if it’s an irreconcilable issue. Well it will be that so long as you decide to fight it, but once you embrace your pain (perhaps, embrace your cross?) a new thing happens. Suddenly the situation doesn’t seem so grim. Yes, it’s still dark, but when you embrace pain, seeing that it has a purpose and is not some random, sadistic act of God, then things and thoughts fall into line. You see the clouds, but you know there’s sunshine behind them.
Of course, the only group of people who have a real and realistic fix on pain is the Church..all those Christians, “led like sheep to the slaughter.” When you trust in a Sovereign God things make sense. Not total sense, perhaps, but some sense. We slightly see the point of the great tragedy and triumph of Christ dying on the cross, the ultimate picture of God suffering, for He did not remain dead but arose and through the pain came joy, through death came life, eternal life.
Am I thankful for the God who suffered the greatest on my behalf? Yes. But I am also thankful for the trials He puts me through. Over the past several months, as my life crumbled and cascaded down from the heights it stood on, I kept wondering, “one thing after another, how long till You leave me in the gutter?” But at the heart of this, in my own heart, I slightly see a reason…intense growth in my relationship with the King of all. As much as I’d rather have my life pristine and untouched, I cannot deny that I am very grateful for the pain that has refined and grown me.
I was thinking tonight about the beginning of the semester. I remember making my triumphant return to Boyce along with everyone else. We all had high hopes, great expectations, bright eyes, wide smiles, and hopeful hearts. In the matter of months, everything’s turned. The world has come undone.
I’m not just talking about myself, I’m also talking about other guys I know living in the dorms. It’s weird, you think your own personal problem is a big deal and then you run into a friend who’s also coping with some huge trial. Sometimes I forget that other people have hurts. We’re all “tear-stained”,so to speak. No one is immune to pain. The world is coming undone for all of us.
The point? Remember, if your life is on the downward spiral right now, that you’re not alone. This helps in a couple of ways. 1) You won’t be as prideful or arrogant. I’ve noticed that it’s easy for me to think that I have the biggest issues ever and so everyone needs to cater to my needs. Well, yes, I need help and am glad to take it and not afraid to ask for it, but if I start to demand it in a selfish way I need to remember I’m not alone in my pain. Other people are having restless nights too. We all need help and remembering this will humble us. 2) It’s a comfort. A cold comfort, but a comfort nonetheless. We can help each other; “bear one another’s burdens” as Paul commands in Galatians 6.
So keep these things in mind the next time you have a bad day (or week,or month, or year). As Red Green used to say, “Remember, I’m pulling for ya..we’re all in this together.” So let’s cry on each other’s shoulder and push each other along. We can’t run solo in this world that’s coming undone…
“This world it’s, it’s come undone. We’re spinning towards the sun and it won’t be that long till my world has gone all wrong…”-Red Shepherd
Why question a Sovereign God? If He’s really in control of the universe,if He really has a plan for humanity (myself included), if He is the Creator, Sustainer, and King of all there is, then why question Him?
In my current situation it’s easy to question God. I don’t doubt His sovereignty. Yes, this situation has been a painful curveball, but it hasn’t made me disbelieve God. It wouldn’t be much of a faith if I abandoned God just because He lets a little pain in my life. So I don’t doubt God–His existence, His attributes, His character, etc. But I still have questions.
But it’s absolutely, logically silly to question a Sovereign God! Yet here I am: confident that His will is right and true and this will ultimately work out for the better, but still wondering why the chips had to fall this way. Don’t bother wasting your breath with me on cliche sympathetic statements. I know em well enough. But I can’t get my head around it. I’m content with the situation, yes. I’m resting in God’s plan, yes. I know my salvation under Christ’s sacrifice holds firm, yes. Theologically, doctrinally, I know I’m correct. I’ll hold firm. It’s where the rubber meets the road that there’s a little burn.
I’m like a child squirming under the dentist’s hand as he drills and fills a cavity. I know that in reality the filling and pain is for my own good,that it will all last only a moment and soon pass, but to sit under it is a whole ‘nother matter. It calls into question reality, truth, and sanity. Now here I am experiencing the first drops of a storm that will last the night. I know this isn’t the end, I know I’ll come out allright. But to hide under the shelter of Christ in the midst of the storm, with the wind howling, the rain beating, the thunder roaring, and the lightning flashing is a whole ‘nother matter.
Yet through the din I’m checked….why question a Sovereign God?
