To be honest with you, God and I aren’t seeing eye to eye right now.
He’s asking me to do something I don’t want to do. Actually, He’s telling me. He’s telling me to completely give up one of the most important friendships I have ever had in my life.
I tried telling God, “No, thank you,” but He’s not taking no for an answer.
As I was driving to church this morning, soaking in my grief, God asked me a question. “When was the last time you felt this intensely sad?”
My mind immediately returned to July, 1999. I had just learned that my very best friend was moving 1,000 miles away in less than a week. That was pain.
When I recounted that memory to the Lord this morning, He responded, “And how did I use that tragedy in your life?”
I knew immediately what God was getting at. It was through that chain of events in the summer of ’99 that I came to realize I needed a Savior, and no human savior would do. That heartache was necessary for me to become willing to begin a relationship with Jesus.
God reminded me, “I used that pain then to draw you closer to Me. Trust that I will do the same with the pain you are experiencing today.”
And as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t really argue with that.
Sometimes it is hard to take comfort in Bible verses or other people’s assertions that everything is going to be ok. But if we can look back to a similar time in our own lives when the Lord was faithful to us, maybe we can find a speck of hope to hold on to.
Making sense of pain is never easy. I’ve seen so much of it in the lives of people I’ve counseled and it is tempting to see pain as always evil. Theologically I must admit it is a result of evil choice by Adam and Eve and often by our own choices and God promises to remove it one day, so it definitely can be viewed as evil. But given the falleness of our souls and our proclivity to move away from God I see it as a necessary evil in this present world. One day, when our hearts are new and different we will see the eradication of pain. Bring it on, Lord.
So true! All over the Old Testament are depictions of the people of Israel REMEMBERING what God has done for them. All those festivals and stuff were supposed to be a time to remember and celebrate what the Lord has done! So important to recall those experiences, the REAL ones we ourselves experienced that remind us and testify to us that God is good, even when the circumstances around us are far from it. I love you!
I remember a time studying the Israelites, when I said to myself: “How stupid can these people be? After seeing all of the miracles God has done and His provision for them, How could they be so quick to abandon Him and follow something useless?”
Then like a powerful wind-or was it a still small voice-the Spirit said to me: “This question is best posed to you, David Bolton”…..yikes.