The paths of wisdom are not like walks in the garden, which we make use of for diversion only, and an amusement; but like tracks in a great road, which we press forward in with care and pains, as a traveler in his journey, till we come to journey’s end.
~Matthew Henry
For thus says the Lord: your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous. There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you. All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant. Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you. Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who prey on you I will make a prey. For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’
~ from Jeremiah 30
Oh beloved, it is true. We serve a merciful G_d. He serves us with His favor. We don’t deserve a bit of it. And still, He pours mountains of it onto us. So much so, that we are crushed. And the first thing that He does, in His mercy towards us?
He kills us.
Oh, it is not the death that we knew we had coming to us. We knew we deserved an eternity apart from Him. We knew that we deserved the fires of a 4-dimensional hell – burning and living while the clock ticked away. We knew that we deserved this, but at least we would have had our dignity given to us by the Almighty. He would have allowed us to have our own way – and be away from Him.
But our lives were not working. Somewhere in the idiocy of our pursuits, a tiny portion of us became convinced that the path we were on was none too great. So, we asked for just a little Help. We didn’t really know what we were asking for. And so, when He came in like a flood, we were ruined.
We were ruined, and as He came upon us, we came to understand that the ruin was not just of His making. We had put ourselves into dire straits. Our diet of deadly sins had left us nearly incapacitated. It really was a mercy killing on His part.
Thankfully, He did not leave us dead. And this is the beauty of the very good news of The Gospel. Jesus Himself, raised us up with Himself into a Life that will never end. The death He died was so powerful as to pull all things (including us) down with it. But the Life He now lives is so powerful as to raise us completely out of the grave and to be seated with Him in Heavenly places.
It is an Abundant Life we now have in Him. It is so full. It is so real. It is so satisfying. It is so peaceful. It is so joyful. And… It is often crushingly painful.
We left a lot behind in our untimely death and rebirth. And many of the people we used to think that we knew – we really do not know any more. Many of the people who we used to think loved us, didn’t, and they were some of the people who drove us towards the disaster that saved us. We are thankful that we now know the truth. Still, though, the pain of these wounds somehow survived the death and resurrection we went through.
Can we see it? For the believer, pain too is a mercy beyond our wildest dreams. We find that the pain (of our past life) that we experience in our New Life we have in Him, is acknowledged by G_d. It is real. It is something from which we need to be healed – though it may take beyond the years we are given in this plane for it all to happen.
We feel the pressure from the pain and it drives us into His arms – and as we weep – we feel His Own chest heave with ours in the pain. We hear His Voice speak true comfort to our spirit. We sense Him holding our face in His Hands and bidding us to look into His knowing Eyes – that we might truly know all is going to be OK One Day.
So, are you being crushed now, by the pain of your past? Don’t try to squirm out from underneath it. The pain is a gift from Him. Allow it to have its way with you. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. In fact, He is going through it with you. Tonight is your night beloved. Time to believe that you are already dead – so you are already alive and free.
