Pain and suffering stink. We don’t like to be in pain or to suffer and it’s easy to get angry with God when we’re in the middle of it.
After all, God did set us up for this
(see Rom 8:20-21). We’ve been set up to fail and to be frustrated from trusting in ourselves.
This isn’t cynicism. It’s simply reality. Jesus didn’t apologize for it or explain it away. He said there would be trouble in this world, but to be of good cheer, because He overcame the world.
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. John 17: 15-18.
Jesus’ heart for us is not simply to have good PMA (positive mental attitude). He wants us to see things/us the way they/we are – broken and messed up, needy and desperate. Maybe your life is a wreck right now. Maybe a relationship for you is terrible. Maybe that’s where you are with Jesus. Are you trying to avoid the pain at all costs? Are you self-medicating by going to porn, practicing hatred or unforgiveness, harboring bitterness, hating yourself, shutting down, running away, etc?
Pray for mercy. Surrender your heart, your attitude, your anger, your complaining, and everything else to Jesus. Do it over and over. Don’t pretend or make excuses or blame everybody else and don’t deceive yourself that you can fix it. You can’t. God set us up to fall into His arms and plead for mercy.
The level at which you are willing to move into the pain and suffering, and wait on the Lord, is the level of joy and and abundant life you will experience with Him.
There is no redemption without brokenness, no hope without having been in despair, grace is unknown without having sinned, no peace without unrest, and something has to die to be resurrected. There is no Easter without Good Friday. We wouldn’t recognize God’s mercy and kindness without the ugliness.
If you’ve received Jesus as your Savior – Rejoice! We don’t belong to this world brothers and sisters. Our hope isn’t that God will give us whatever we want in this world – it’s that He HAS given us everything we want in our real world.
We have an eternal home waiting for us – but He is also with us now through the Holy Spirit – The Comfortor. So, be of good cheer (which is not the same as happiness), as you wait on Jesus in your suffering. He is with you, even to the end of the age.
