You’re Giving Pain A Bad Name.

Every sorrow and difficulty that has come into my life has, I can see in hindsight, been exquisitely and finely tuned to root out the most repugnant aspects of my personality. Yes I know. There's lots left. The thing is -

God did not create a world of sin and suffering. That was our choice. God does however defeat the power of sin and suffering by using it for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28,29). He uses suffering to highlight and root out the most dysfunctional aspects of our character.

Of course, all He can do is present the opportunity for change. We need to make the decision to follow. Nevertheless the main dysfunction in all of us is ALWAYS our unwillingness to love as He loves. When we love the unloving, we get a glimpse of what God does for us. When we do what is right even though we have been wronged, we do for others what God does every single moment for us.

Covenant keeping teaches us how to love as God loves.

Of Tears and Rainbows

I was with a guy yesterday. A middle-aged man who sobbed tears of sorrow over the loss of his mother to cancer more than ten years ago. He was worried that there was something wrong with him to feel this much pain.

I envied him.

To be able to feel deeply is, I believe, part of the abundant life that Jesus promises to those who follow Him. So many, too many spend their lives numbing themselves. Either through work, or relationships, or mood altering chemicals, a fear of feeling is a common theme in people’s lives. Not so for those whose writings have been included in the Bible.

Did you know that seventy percent of the Psalms are Psalms of lament? David wrote, “Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.”
A New York Times magazine article entitled Depression's Upside confirms this as it explains that the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) is the part of our brain that controls what we pay attention to. This area is activated when we are sad.

“Tears are the material out of which heaven weaves its brightest rainbow.”
So wrote G. M. Meyer

I must admit that for a good portion of my life, I too looked for ways to escape my sorrow as quickly as possible. I now know that it is in the depths of sorrow that we ask the most important questions about life.

What’s the point of life?
Why am I here?
Why did God allow / cause this to happen?
How can I help others who have had similar experiences?

“Every night tears drench my bed; my pillow is wet from my weeping.” Ps.6:6
“I am dying from grief. Misery has drained my strength.” Ps. 31:10

The beauty of being in a healed relationship with Jesus is that “we do not grieve as those who have no hope” 1 Thess. 4:13.

For those who have been called according to God’s plan and purpose, sin and evil do not have the last word in our lives.

For those who have rejected the forgiveness offered by Jesus, this life is as good as it gets.

For those who have accepted the forgiveness offered by Jesus, this life is as difficult as it gets.

What Use, Sorrow?

Many people wonder why God allows / causes suffering, tragedy, sorrow, difficulties.

There are of course many reasons but three obvious reasons are:

. Pain and sorrow drives those who are destined to reject Him further and further down the road to destruction.

. Pain and sorrow drives those who are destined to salvation into the arms of Jesus.

. Pain and sorrow are used by God, more than anything else, to bring about character change in those who long to become like Jesus.

Consider These Real-life Examples:

A man keeps score by how much money he makes. He cannot seem to stop judging those who make less.
- He is fired from his executive job - no one executive job but two.

A woman keeps score by the age and style of her furniture. She cannot seem to quit thinking less of those who have older, smaller, less than.
- The downturn in the economy forces her to buy used.

A person with depression becomes overly dependent on her husband.
- A death in the extended family forces her husband to leave her on her own while he takes care of business.

A woman lives with guilt because of being physically abusive toward her children. She prays for “gentle hands.”
- Arthritis renders her hands all but useless.

A man struggles with chronic unfaithfulness.
- Medications to treat a physical condition makes sex nearly impossible.

A man struggles with chronic lying.
- He is caught in a series of lies that threatens the survival of his marriage.

Without these difficulties and sorrows, these people would, in all likelihood still be caught in the folly of their ways.

Fools will cluck, cluck at the meanness of God for bringing these difficulties into these people’s lives.

Each of these people are today, giving prayers of thanksgiving for having been released from their bondage.

Fools will say that all this is coincidence.

“Coincidence is just God working anonymously.” Albert Einstein