“O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” (Psalm 107:1)
There are almost eight billion people on this planet, and because of the mercy of God, the majority of them ate today, it was not because of the toil and innovation of mankind, for even that is because of His mercy.
There is pain and great suffering because of man though.
To understand why that physical pain and emotional suffering has been allowed to continue for thousands of years, one must understand the mercy of the Almighty, and this truth, that until it is over, when the time from the creation and fall of Adam to the moment those who have been saved by His grace comes to a conclusion, that pain must needs be.
No one can experience relief from pain, from trials and tribulations, from hardships unless they have experienced them. The everlasting mercy of the Living God could not be revealed unless there was a reason for it.
“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
Do you? Can you see past the here and now? Is whatever pain you are experiencing worth going through not only because you know what awaits you in His Kingdom, but because in some way, even if you cannot see the reason, you know it is for His glory?
No matter if it is physical or emotional, it hinders your ability to function in this world. The pain can keep you from not only what you want to do, but need to do, but does it hinder you from serving as you have been called to do? Great physical pain should cause us to see that perhaps the path that the Lord has set us upon, or that part of the path, has been completed by us, the task that was set before us has been accomplished and another door opened. For the one who serves Christ will serve Him until their dying breath.
That emotional pian, great sorrows and tears can be meant to draw us closer to Him who can wipe them all away, resting on the promise that His mercy endures forever.
If you are following the Lord Jesus Christ, He will lead you to places of pain, in this you may rest assured. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:” (2nd Tim. 2:12)
In those moments when the pain will not abate, can you still find comfort in Him? Or do you seek the physicians of this world and their potions for ease of it? Our Lord on the cross refused the narcotic that would have assisted Him in at least some relief from the physical pain and the emotional turmoil that was placed upon Him for a very specific reason, the cup that was set before Him was not to be mixed with any of the temporary reliefs that the world offers.
Should we do the same? And if not, just how much of the pain are we expected to experience before we look to the world to assist us in alleviating it? My friends, I take several hundred aspirin a year, and so I will not offer advice in this area, this is one of those instances where the truth of “That’s between me and God” must come into play. But you must consider this, who allowed that pain to assail you, and for what reason?
Mercy must have a reason to be shown, it offers little to the one who lives their life in the sunshine, but is all we should need when the thunderstorms arrive. Would the friends of Lazarus, who was laid at the rich man’s gate, have taken him to the best clinic available today?
How much the Lord desires us to bear is how much we should bear, and always for His glory.
