Editor's note: Enjoy today's devotion from Keeping Faith When Life Hurts by Joni Eareckson Tada.
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For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers...”Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? — Isaiah 58:2–3, 6–7
God’s heart intent is to alleviate suffering, and He is bending over backward to do it. He is moving heaven and earth to dry the tear, lighten the load, ease the burden, mend the marriage, give to the poor, care for the widow, stamp out crime, help the elderly, uphold justice, bandage the battered, and much more. God rallies us to His noble cause, but we often do not respond.
God longs to push back the pain through those who serve as His body, His hands and feet on earth.
He is the head of the body, the church. — Colossians 1:18
And
From Him the whole body... builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. — Ephesians 4:16
God has placed His work in your hands, and
we take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. — Ephesians 4:15 The Message
God’s directions to us couldn’t be clearer. But we hem and haw. This is ironic since so many of us fault Him for allowing suffering to be the world’s status quo. (The quo wouldn’t be so status if we got off our duffs and followed His lead.) Let’s change that today
Lord Christ, You are my head, and I take directions from You today. Show me how I can partner with You to alleviate suffering in my world.
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Suffering’s Response
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” — Job 1:20–21
God screens the trials that come to each of us—allowing only those that accomplish His plan, because He takes no joy in human agony (Lamentations 3:33). Such trials are not evenly distributed from person to person, and this can discourage us, for we are only able to see through a glass darkly. We are not privy to God’s reasons. But we can take heart that every trial is ordained by God from eternity past, custom made for each believer’s eternal good, even when it doesn’t seem like it. Nothing happens by accident... not even tragedy... not even sins committed against us.
The core of God’s plan is to rescue us from our sin.
Our pain, poverty, and broken hearts are not His ultimate focus. He cares about them, but they are merely symptoms of the real problem. God cares most—not about making us comfortable—but about teaching us to hate our sins, grow up spiritually, and love Him. To do this, He gives us salvation’s benefits only gradually. In other words, He lets us continue to feel much of sin’s sting while we are headed for Heaven. This constantly reminds us of what we are being delivered from, exposing sin for the poison it is. Thus evil (suffering) is turned on its head to defeat evil (sin)—all to the praise of God’s wisdom.
What is the proper response to God’s wisdom in screening our trials and allowing particular ones—sometimes tragic ones—to touch our lives? “May the name of the Lord be praised,” says Job in today’s verse. Think of a specific heartache you are facing. Will you follow Job in his response?
Almighty God, may I not “waste” my sufferings today but see in my response to them any sin of resentment, complaint, or bitterness that needs to be confessed. I praise You for Your wisdom.
Excerpted with permission from Keeping Faith When Life Hurts by Joni Eareckson Tada, copyright Joni Eareckson Tada.
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Your Turn
Suffering trips us up, doesn’t it? We have to wrestle with our pain, wrestle with God, sit in the hurt, and wade through the questions. What if we decided to keep our eyes out for the suffering of others and do our best to alleviate it? What if we made that a chief mission in our lives? ~ Devotionals Daily