the problem of pain is......
Wait a minute isn't that the title of a book by C.S. Lewis? While I haven't actually read The Problem of Pain it is definitely a volume I want to get my hands on so as to get some insight into what Lewis has to say on the subject.
Me? Well I can't promise anything as remotely profound as Lewis what I can share is some of what God has been dealing with me about as of late.
Which in some part will explain my prolonged absence and silence on the web. God and I have been battling through some difficult heart issues which have been buried underneath layers and layers of self comfort, self-protection, hiding and running. Ah....there is nothing like being in a spiritual desert to expose the depths of what lurks in the recesses of the human heart and there is nothing like a loving God who won't leave well enough alone.
The problem of pain is.........we find ourselves in a world where pain is an everyday occurrence and we were never designed to have to live with this reality. That my friends....is difficult for me to swallow....for I have had to live with more than my fair share of pain. I know what it to be bullied, humiliated, mocked, rejected, lonely, used, abused and taken advantage of. There isn't a single human being who doesn't know what it is to experience pain. The question is.......what does one do with it?
The question of the hour....what do I do with my pain? I wish I could say I've always know the right way of handling my heart in regard to this....but as God has revealed I haven't. You see after peeling back layer after layer I have come to realize that I believed the lies that I could actually manage my pain.....that I could hide from it.......run away from it.
The truth of the matter is this:
I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. - John 16:33
and....
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Hebrews 4:15-16
Jesus knows what is to be clothed in human skin......He knows what it is to experience pain....He also knows what it is to be faced with the world's comentary(Satan's lies) on what to do with ones pain. The world (Satan) would tell you pain can be stuffed, numbed, escaped, and hidden from and you can pick what ever method works for you. Yet Jesus says....."in this world you will have tribulation"....period. We will experience pain.....and there is no escaping it......but what are we to do when we are faced with it....and it feels so overwhelming and the suffering so excruciating? Jesus knows we are constantly faced with the temptations to "mishandle" our hearts....and he sympathizes with that temptation. He, himself faced the very same temptations.....yet did not give in. He says to us in those excruciating moments.....
"Come here......and let Me give you what you truly need."
I know this because He has been saying this to me. He has exposed my ways of trying to handle my pain.....to which He has revealed is a form of idolatry....because I dared to believe that I could deal with this reality of pain in my own strength........independent from Him.
Ours was never intended to be an independent existence.....and anyone who would dare suggest that it was is a liar.
So as we enter into a new week......may I ask how are you really and are you allowing Jesus to be the High Priest of your soul?
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