Trials

Handling Life’s Pain

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15a, NKJV).

I enjoy God’s people! I find them fascinating. Each is a trophy of God’s grace. As a pastor, I try to never forget that truth. Remembering that fact helps me with the stewardship responsibilities an under-shepherd has both to the Chief Shepherd as well as to the sheep. With God’s children, I almost always find an accumulation of a “story.” Each of us has a story about God’s goodness in leading him to and through faith in the person and cross work of Jesus of Nazareth. The Holy Spirit leaves His thumb print embossed on the believer’s heart and life. He gives his faith a discernment to receive certain spiritually discerned truths of God’s Word and of course an honored collection of spiritual gifts to function within Christ’s body. But in order to grow us in the knowledge and image of Christ, God takes His children through the crucible of life’s challenges. Most of God’s children regularly go through cycles of uncomfortable and difficult times. Solomon said that the problems of life are as predictable as the sparks flying upward from a fire (Job 5:7). God reveals in His Word that He has a myriad of reasons to allow troubles to assault His children.

While trouble is a normal part of living “in faith” and “by faith,” most of us will experience a handful of times when the pain is so dark, the hurt so real, and the loss so deep that these occurrences mark us with scars we will carry with us through the rest of our lives. This kind of pain goes beyond our ability to satisfactorily communicate. It lives inside a separate compartment in our minds. It often becomes almost sacred to us, a private collection of experiences that go to the very essence of who we are. Most of us take these experiences to the grave.
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