Seth Barnes wrote this blog a couple weeks ago…it was really what I needed so I thought I would share it. A lot of times we think we see the bigger picture when really God is the one who knows what is really going on.
Linford Detweiler, the male half of the
duo Over the Rhine, said that one of his life’s ambitions is: “Don’t
squander affliction.” I like that. It presupposes that affliction is
some kind of gift. But then you have to ask – who wants a gift like
that?
duo Over the Rhine, said that one of his life’s ambitions is: “Don’t
squander affliction.” I like that. It presupposes that affliction is
some kind of gift. But then you have to ask – who wants a gift like
that?
Affliction is kind of a medieval word that makes me think of damp
dungeons. It’s more than just pain, it’s a kind of exquisite agony –
pain that didn’t just happen, but got inflicted, maybe on purpose. The
King James talks about rising from a “bed of affliction” – somehow that
seems more noble than just being sick.
dungeons. It’s more than just pain, it’s a kind of exquisite agony –
pain that didn’t just happen, but got inflicted, maybe on purpose. The
King James talks about rising from a “bed of affliction” – somehow that
seems more noble than just being sick.
Jesus says that he prunes us so we’ll bear more fruit.* Elsewhere
we’re told that God disciplines those he loves – “for our good” is how
Hebrews puts it.** Another way of looking at it is to say that he is
trusting us with pain.
we’re told that God disciplines those he loves – “for our good” is how
Hebrews puts it.** Another way of looking at it is to say that he is
trusting us with pain.
To trust is to take a kind of a risk; what is it that God risks when he gives us the gift of pain?
For one thing, we humans are forever missing the forest for the
trees. We’re forever banging up against some electric fence that he put
around a dangerous cliff and then shaking our fists at him when we get
zapped. “Why does God hate me?” We cry out in our pain, totally missing
the point that it would have been much worse to go over the cliff. God
is setting himself up to be a jilted lover when he lets us suffer in
order to help us.
trees. We’re forever banging up against some electric fence that he put
around a dangerous cliff and then shaking our fists at him when we get
zapped. “Why does God hate me?” We cry out in our pain, totally missing
the point that it would have been much worse to go over the cliff. God
is setting himself up to be a jilted lover when he lets us suffer in
order to help us.
I remember when I was a young boy and I was caught playing with
gasoline, I was disciplined by being confined to my room for a long
time. It seemed horribly unfair. No one had explained to me either the
dangers of gasoline or the consequences for playing with it. Discipline
may have been beneficial, but with the blinders of youth on, it seemed
like all pain and no gain – wasted affliction.
gasoline, I was disciplined by being confined to my room for a long
time. It seemed horribly unfair. No one had explained to me either the
dangers of gasoline or the consequences for playing with it. Discipline
may have been beneficial, but with the blinders of youth on, it seemed
like all pain and no gain – wasted affliction.
Thomas Hobbes said, life is “poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Things have gotten better since his day. People live twice as long now.
Yet, peel the surface back on the average life and you’ll find plenty
of pain. Every one of us has got it in our lives, but we keep it locked
away out of sight, wasting away. Or, maybe worse, we invert it and
parade it around as a sign of our victimization – a mournful “somebody
done somebody wrong” song where that somebody is us.
Things have gotten better since his day. People live twice as long now.
Yet, peel the surface back on the average life and you’ll find plenty
of pain. Every one of us has got it in our lives, but we keep it locked
away out of sight, wasting away. Or, maybe worse, we invert it and
parade it around as a sign of our victimization – a mournful “somebody
done somebody wrong” song where that somebody is us.
Both miss God’s point. He set up checks and balances in the
universe so that we’re not at the center of it. When you get checked in
hockey, it hurts, and when God checks you, it can feel like you’ve been
hit with a hockey stick. But we need to consider that maybe, just
maybe, there’s actually a redemptive reason behind it.
universe so that we’re not at the center of it. When you get checked in
hockey, it hurts, and when God checks you, it can feel like you’ve been
hit with a hockey stick. But we need to consider that maybe, just
maybe, there’s actually a redemptive reason behind it.
We can curse or we can mope, but we’d be better off asking him a
question as a kind of a prayer: “God, I know you say all things work
together for good – nothing is wasted in your economy. Can you show me
what you’re doing here so I don’t squander this gift of pain?”
question as a kind of a prayer: “God, I know you say all things work
together for good – nothing is wasted in your economy. Can you show me
what you’re doing here so I don’t squander this gift of pain?”
His answer may surprise you.
*John 15
**Read and meditate on all of Hebrews 12 on this subject an I guarantee God will speak to you through it.
