In explaining the growth of his faith, psychiatrist Gerald May writes, “I know that God is loving and that God’s loving is trustworthy. I know this directly, through the experience of my life. There have been plenty of times of doubt, especially when I used to believe that trusting God’s goodness meant I would not be hurt. But having been hurt quite a bit, I know God’s goodness goes deeper than all pleasure and pain it embraces them both.
~ Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin’s Path to God
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
~ Psalm 42
Oh beloved, it is true.
There will be times where things absolutely, totally crash down around us.
Relationships fail
Reconciliation does not happen
Healing is delayed
Nothing is going to work
Death is near
Dreams are shattered…
And if any of you believe that it is during these times that we can just shrug off the hurt, and put a fake smile on our face; answering “blessed!!!!” when asked how we are doing – you are wrong.
Really, badly, completely wrong.
However, there is a problem that is just as bad as denial.
Can we see it?
When we come to the end of something… When everything we thought was going to go a certain way – doesn’t… We have a choice. The choice is to either walk in the power of The Holy Spirit, or to default to reactions of our flesh.
Fleshly reactions will include denial, anger, bitterness, despair, attempts at self-comfort, and acting out in ways that are destructive. And, if we look away from the Source of our true comfort and joy, we will find that we have actually nothing to work with – so we start flailing around, looking for something to “fix the problem.”
However, when we look away from the “waves” of destruction and pain around us – and look TOWARDS the One Who is The Solution, we can be suddenly overcome by a wonderful truth. EVERYTHING looks small compared to the Infinite. Even if the whole universe crashes down around us, the fire will eventually die out – and HIS LOVE, and JOY, and HOPE, and STRENGTH will remain.
So, are you hurting? This happens. Are you facing terrible circumstances? This indeed will be the case in this world. However, it really does matter how you (and this fool of a writer) handle our pain. One way will gain us nothing at all. The other will overwhelmingly take us through to an emotionally and spiritually strong (read: joyful) conclusion.
Tonight is your night. Time to look to Jesus, that your destruction might be your victory.
Christ made no promise that those who followed him in his plan of reestablishing life on its proper basic principles would enjoy a special immunity from pain and sorrow—nor did he himself experience such immunity. He did, however, promise enough joy and courage, enough love and confidence in God to enable those who went his way to do far more than survive.
~J. B. Phillips (1906-1982)
