Scripture- “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” – Ephesians 1:13-14
Insight: God doesn’t waste anything, and He will not waste your pain. The painful things we all experience on earth can seem at times overwhelming and leave us questioning our faith. I hear an increasing number of stories of really tough circumstances and trials that Christians are experiencing, and it is not easy. My family and I have been going through many ourselves recently and it is much easier to write 100 sermons than to live through a real-life trial that has you on your knees asking for wisdom and strength to endure. My 84 year old mother contracting Covid-19 while living in an Assisted Living Center n another State where we can’t visit her is a good example. The common question asked by many at those times is why God allows bad things to happen to good people. More specifically, we ask “God, how could you allow this to happen to me, or to us?”
The easy answer is too generic for our specific cases in most instances, and that is that we live in a fallen world, marred by sin, that God has allowed for a finite period of time until “all hear the word of the good news of the gospel” as Matthew 24:14 and 1 Corinthians 15:24 speak to and then He will redeem all things back to His Kingdom for His Father’s glory. We are not God so in most cases we won’t get but a glimpse of the specific reasons for it on this side of eternity, other than God allowed it to strengthen our faith in some way that is foreign to us, or allowed pain to deepen our dependence on Him, but there will be a reason and it will be used by God for greater good and for His glory at some point in time. God is the God of our circumstances and He is in the middle of our circumstances, and He will not waste our pain! That mindset must guard our reactions when facing severe trials or we can find ourselves drowned with fatigue and anger if we don’t quickly change our focus back to the promises and hope of God’s word. Romans 8:28 guarantees us “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Does this promise instantly make things better? Does it mean our trial will suddenly disappear? Not necessarily, but it does get our mind back on trusting God even when we don’t understand, and that in some miraculous way eases our burden and our anxiousness. Peace can actually result when we simply throw up our hands and say, “I surrender it all to you Lord,” right in the middle of the storm. As the song goes, “I through my arms up, and my worries down,” and trust Him more in spite of the pain, knowing it will not be wasted. It will in fact be redeemed. In this broken world, pain is inevitable, but our misery is optional.
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