“Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me” - Psalm 69: 16 (NIV)
Pain has been described as an “unpleasant physical sensation” that could be caused by illness, injury or a disturbing event. Some pain could only last momentary as long as the cause is still being inflicted; there is also a pain that could last for a prolonged time. In these days of the pandemic many have experienced the pain of loss of loved ones, that can stretch for months on end.
Jesus was very familiar with pain. Upon learning that his friend Lazarus had died, he went to Bethany. On meeting Lazarus’s sister, Mary, “she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” (John 11:32-33).
If there was a person who came to see pain in life one must think of Joseph. Sold by his siblings into slavery, he was later jailed due to false accusation (Genesis 37-39). Then there is King David. He was persecuted by King Saul who feared the anointing on his life and forced him on the run. In Gath, before King Achish, fearing to be identified, “he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard” (1 Samuel 21:13).
To these you could add on a whole list of huge Biblical characters: Abraham ageing without a child; Moses in the wilderness; Paul being disserted; all who came to experience great pain in this life.
How should we react when faced with pain? When David was down and abandoned, he wrote, “But as for me, afflicted and in pain— may your salvation, God, protect me. I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving (Psalm 69: 29). David never lost hope when down in pain.
Today, if you are in pain, have passed through a recent moment that has left you in pain, do not lose your faith in the Almighty God. From the pain of being abandoned Joseph was raised to save an entire nation. And this is because Joseph had all along never lost his faith that God would deliver him.
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, where I am in pain, I look up to you for deliverance, for you are my salvation; who saves the needy; this I pray in Jesus’s name.
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
