If something bad happened to me, I would immediately jump into action...trying to figure out why this happened, and then trying to figure out how to get out of it. I would expend a lot of energy and rarely make anything better.
I don't know why bad things happen. People a lot smarter than me have tried to figure that out and have failed. But I do know that God never leaves me. If he's there in the good times, he's there in the bad times too. I just have to trust him when I can't see what's ahead.
I had the privilege of hearing Germaine Copeland speak a couple of weeks ago. If you haven’t heard of her before, she is a lovely lady who has written some beautiful books on prayer – Prayers that Avail Much. She talked about her son (who now works in her ministry) and the troubles he had with drugs. She talked about how she would pray and pray for him, and eventually she started writing down those prayers and her books started to take shape from there. She was very matter of fact and even humorous when she talked about the years of struggle, even when he went to jail.
But all I could think of was the years of pain and hopelessness she must have gone through. I can’t imagine having to watch your child making bad decisions over and over, destroying his life, and be completely unable to help him.
But out of her pain and her cries to God in her helplessness, God brought great beauty. First he brought beautiful prayers, prayers that pray Scripture back to God, that have been shared with thousands and thousands of people. This wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t gone through that pain. Secondly, he brought her son back to her. What a precious gift, especially when she may have feared he was gone forever.
I’m becoming convinced that not only must great beauty come from suffering, but the deeper the pain experienced, the greater the beauty that comes from it.
Psalm 56:8 says, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (NLT)
Psalm 30:11 says, “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy.” (NLT)
God promises that he knows every tear that we cry and that he will turn our mourning into joy. Look for those times when they’ve happened in your life. Have you experienced great pain, and then something beautiful came out of it? Maybe a sweeter relationship with God, maybe you were able to help someone else who was going through the same thing, maybe a better understanding of yourself, or others.
God never promises that we won’t suffer, he only promises that he will be with us. Don’t let those hard times, the pain, the helplessness turn you bitter or cynical. Know that Jesus is with you and that none of your tears are in vain.
Look at the example that Jesus gives us. How he suffered on the cross to redeem us. God came to earth to take our place, so that he could have a relationship with me, with you – an intimate love relationship.
Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (NIV)
That joy set before him is the joy of having a relationship with us. He died to bring us home and that is the greatest beauty of all!!
I’m trying to look at my life and my circumstances differently. Instead of feeling sorry for myself and moaning about my circumstances, I’m trusting that God is going to bring beauty and joy out of it. I’m going to look for it, because I don’t want to miss any joy because I’m looking at me (and my situation) instead of him!
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