Unexpected Pain
What do you do when you’ve been meticulously careful to do all the right things to ensure the blessing and favor of God over your life, yet, you still find yourself balled up on the floor in a corner of your house, sobbing your insides out over unexpected calamity? How do you sit in the middle of a gripping pain so deep and unrelenting, and not question the ways of Almighty God? How does the pool of your own tears, gathering in the middle of the cold bathroom floor underneath your cheek, lend credence to the unfailing love and unceasing mercies of God?
With pain so ruthless, what is to stop you from yelling to the sky that infamously “faithless” question every believer is strictly forbidden to ask, “Why me, God?”
Why does this type of pain choose us when it does; when we’re either too old and feeble to bear the weight of it, or too young and blissful for the depth of it? The long, gnarly tentacles of unexpected pain reach for us on ordinary days when all of life appears to be going according to plan and we couldn’t be happier. And being no respecter of times and seasons, this nemesis of tranquility bursts onto the scene of our lives while we are yet in the process of resettling our lives from the upsets and distresses of last season’s soul-numbing traumas. Where is the escape route when pain of this magnitude comes knocking to deliver an horrendous, life-altering experience addressed specifically to you?
Well, here I go being the bearer of bad news, which is really a matter of perspective. On the day you hear that disturbing knock on your door, and you open it to see Sorrow and Suffering standing before you, loaded down with baggage, don’t bother to look for the escape route, because there is none. You must know that these two emissaries of affliction are intentional in choosing your house, in this season, at your age, at this time of day, and they aren’t going anywhere until they have completed their assignment, which has been intentionally ordered up for you.
As Christ followers, we must bear in mind two things on which Jesus was very clear:
1). In this world, we will have trouble. “[B]ut be of good cheer”, Jesus says, “I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33).
2). We all will be given a cross to bear (Lk.14:27), and it will seem unbearable. Yet, we do not need to bear it alone.
Whether by God, or by the Devil, both sources of the trials have an expected end; the former, to build our faith; the latter, to destroy it. Having the ability to discern which is which can mean the difference between overcoming victoriously through the trial or being completely defeated by it. This ability to discern the source and cause of our pain can be difficult because pain seldom announces its origin or purpose. It usually, simply shows up, burdening us with the perplexing task of figuring out the “Why’s?”, and “How’s?”, and “What fors?” behind it all. But figure it out we must, or, at the very least, we must make a decision about the two unwelcome, yet, necessary ministers of affliction when they come to call; a decision that will empower us to walk, sure-footedly, upon the tumultuous waters of tribulation, without drowning. James 1:8 reminds us that a “double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.” Thus, we must decide. Here’s the good news-God will help us. No matter the source of unanticipated pain, we can be more than overcomers.
In Habakkuk 3:17-19 we read:
Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, [though] the product of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the [victorious] God of my salvation!
The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!
The prophet Habakkuk reminds us that when everything that comprises our lives that could possibly go wrong goes wrong, we have the choice to either sit and moan, or to praise God and rejoice in the victory He has already wrought for us. He is our strength: We can choose to walk in that strength, or wallow in defeat. He is our courage: We can choose to be brave, or to be paralyzed by fear. He is our undefeatable army: We can either lay down and let the enemy crush us under his feet, or we can choose to let God fight our battles as we march onto the battlegrounds behind Him, rejoicing and lifting up His name in praise as we go. His promise to us is this: as we make the decision to rejoice in Him in the midst of utter devastation, He will fully equip us with everything we need to face tribulations of any kind, and to exit the battle with a faith that is stronger than when we first stepped onto the battlefield.
Sometimes, in the thick of the battle, even though we have positioned ourselves behind the Lord, Who is invincible in battle, it may appear as though we are losing the fight. Winning may look like defeat when weeping endures for the night. But we can rejoice, knowing that joy is coming in the morning (Ps. 30:5). From the outside, it may look like disaster when the battle is overlong, and we can’t see our way out; when we stumble in the darkness, and depression threatens to pull us into a bottomless vortex of hopelessness. Yet, there is a lifeline in the Word of God to help us endure the night blindness. The prophet encourages us with these words in Michah 7:8:
Do not gloat over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will rise.
Though I sit darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
One match lit in the darkest room, and the room is no longer overcome by darkness. One tiny glimmer of hope in a seemingly hopeless situation, and hopelessness is undone. God’s living Word brings light to our darkness. His promise to abide with us always, gives us hope.
Oh, how powerful and reassuring it is to know that God has a book in Heaven where He records every single tear we cry, and that He has a bottle for catching every tear that we have ever shed (Ps. 58:8). He saves them and He writes about them. Just think about that for a moment and you will gain insight into the great love our Father has for us.
I penned this blog last year, before the horrific death of Mr. George Floyd, before the assassinations of Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, but I find it especially relevant today. God is now, and always has been, on the side of the oppressed. We are living in some very turbulent, troubling times, but all the signs are pointing to change. The pot of injustice is full and boiling over its brim. We are witnessing the unfolding of a kairos moment – that chosen, proper and opportune time for the manifestation of the arm of God to bring about global change.
My prayer is that all will find strength and encouragement in reading this blog. I pray that this blog will help you come to understand how precious you are to God, and how concerned our loving Father is about everything that touches our lives. He cares deeply about the pain that you and I have endured - and must yet endure. It has been said, “God permits what He hates to accomplish that which He loves.” God cares deeply that our people are being slaughtered on a daily basis, and He grieves deeply with us. But we should not think that God does not already have a plan for our redemption, which time shall soon reveal.
In Psalm 34:18, we read that God is very near to the broken-hearted. He is near to those who have endured crushing of every kind; and haven’t we? Our great God stands by us to lift us back up, to resuscitate us, to revive us, and to breathe fresh new life into us. When our hearts become overwhelmed, weighted down by suffering and grief beyond our capacity to bear, He will draw us to Himself to partake of His strength, made perfect in our weakness (see Ps. 61:2, and II Cor. 12:9).
When we have been tried, we shall declare as Job, “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as pure gold” (Job 23:10). Then, we will become meat for the Master’s use. The Lord will make us to be broken bread for the multitudes of the hurting. All this is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
As we decide to trust in and praise Almighty God in the face of tragedy, sorrow and suffering, He will empower our feet to keep moving forward over the craggy mountains, down in the valley, through the dry desert, and upon the raging seas. He will cause the darkness to become light before our faces, and every high place He will bring down to nothing, to nothing at all. Rather than annihilating us, the unexpected pain that ventures into our lives will merely be a tool in the sovereign hands of God, skillfully used to enlarge our faith and to fashion us into the image of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. If we allow Him, God can use that pain to propel us to engage in the sort of action(s) that will result in the reshaping of America. To God be the glory.
