Archive for Pain
Mercies in Disguise: Finding God in Your Trials
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Seasons of trials and troubles, pain and suffering, disappointments and dying dreams can leave all of us with more questions than answers. We find ourselves unable to box our theological answers as neatly as before. We wrestle with questions like, “Where are you, God?” “Why have you deserted me?” “Are you real, God?” In our trials, we reach for our false strengths and we find that they were only illusions.
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Seeing Christmas Through the Gift of Myrrh
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I love meaningful gifts. What’s a meaningful gift? For me, it’s a gift that says you know me. You understand at least some of the essence of who I am. And it cannot be dishtowels. My hubby and kids all know that I hate getting dishtowels for Christmas (lol, can you tell that I get dishtowels every year from a certain beloved relative?)
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With God in the Valley
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Recently I’ve been pondering how God leads me, at times, into the valley of the shadow of death, where life is uncertain, the terrain is difficult, and it’s just downright scary at times.
Well, you might say, “God doesn’t do that.” Uh, I beg to differ. The Psalmist David, the one God Himself said was a “man after my own heart”, invited us to explore the reality of walking in that valley. Job, who was called “a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil”, certainly walked through the valley. Jesus Himself was “driven into the wilderness” to be tempted, and on the cross he faced the greatest darkness, as he took my sin and your sin and the sin of all humanity on himself and cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The mysteries of human suffering are beyond our grasp, and yet God invites us into them. While I do not believe that God causes evil and I understand that all evil and pain in the world are a result of the work of the enemy, I do believe that God uses human suffering to change us.
In the valley, we struggle and grasp for answers. We wish we could explain the workings of God and the workings of evil in neat theological boxes and all the while God is whispering to us that it’s not so much understanding that we need but a releasing of our need to understand.
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Trusting God with Your Pain
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For the last couple of days, I’ve found myself singing, humming, and meditating on the words of Worth it All by Rita Springer. As I’ve thought on the message of the song, I keep pondering on the words, “You hold on to all my pain, with it You are pulling me closer, and pulling me into Your ways.”
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Is God Shouting at You?
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I believe God is always speaking. He is articulate. He is not like a poorly tuned radio, broadcasting a fuzzy white noise which we can barely distinguish above the other sounds around us. In fact, the Old Testament identifies a false god as one who can’t speak.
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