Not everything you read here is going to be rose colored. You dig?
I have to admit; I am not really doing the greatest mentally with this whole “getting older” thing. It makes everything harder. Even just sleeping through the night becomes difficult due to aches, and “sleeping the wrong way”, and having to “get up” during the night. (Yes, I used several quotations in that last sentence. I am disguising my words to appear less crass, but also to allow those who know (IYKYK) to understand my meaning….
Then you get up to the same things each day. The same aches and pains, the same heart aches that you push off, but that rush up on you as the day starts – the same concerns and issues that you worked on the day before from your job, the same family concerns that trigger those heart aches. Maybe it’s even physical illness, or a condition that eases while you sleep or lay down, but that comes back full bore when you sit up, awake, on the side of the bed.
Sometimes just putting my feet into my slippers is like surrendering to the day, because it’s the first step towards all these things.
And it’s not just our personal concerns. There are maniacs running around our country, our state, and our communities. And we just don’t understand why. Why does this pain, this trouble, these heart aches, this anguish continue?
And these questions sit right at the center of the human heart— and the Bible doesn’t brush it off or pretend it’s simple. It actually expects us to ask.
Let’s be really clear, the Bible is very honest about pain.
God never scolds people for having personal concerns or deep anguish. Scripture is full of voices crying out or wondering why we are experiencing these things…
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1)
“Why, Lord, do You stand far off? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1)
“My tears have been my food day and night.” (Psalm 42:3)
Those aren’t weak people talking. They’re faithful people—David, Job, Jeremiah—who loved God and still felt crushed. These are pillars of the Bible asking these things. I mean I love David just because he was so real. He was up one day, and down the next. Even Jeremiah, who is known as “the weeping prophet” looked for answers. Jeremiah was called that not just because he was sad in an emotional sense. His tears, his grief expressed deep pain for sin and its consequences. Also, Jeremiah's grief was rooted in faith that God would ultimately make everything right.
So why does grief / pain continue? Why doesn’t it make sense?
The Bible gives perspectives, not tidy answers. There is no silver bullet. Because there is to be relationship. There is to be reliance, there is to be FAITH.
We live in a broken world because of the fall of man. And pain isn’t always personal punishment or failure. Jesus directly rejected that idea in John 9 where we see Jesus heal a man who was born blind.
John 9:1-3 NIV As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
The world itself is fractured, and suffering is part of that reality. Just look around, just read the newspaper or watch the news. Just live life for a while. But we see here in this verse that Jesus is pulling people back to the fact that this occurred so that relationship could happen. “That the works of God might be displayed in him” … and others will see it, work to understand it, in fact ask about it.
I have a very good friend who struggles everyday with Cerebral Palsy. CP can be crippling in every way, every day. I sometimes wonder how he even gets up sometimes. Even laying down can be a challenge. I have asked him how each day he goes about the work that the Lord has tasked him to do (he is a pastor of another rural church in SW MN) and he states to me, “…I never know if its going to be a good day or a bad day physically, but I always wake up with the possibility that it will be a good one. So, then I can either add to the good, by leaning into that, or I can add to the bad, by leaning that way. But the day will be the day it’s going to be.” So, it’s either going to be leaning into the good or the bad.
And I believe that God allows lament, not just praise. Oh, He is worthy of praise. He is the only one worthy of praise. But God doesn’t demand that we understand before we speak. He invites honesty first. Lament is an act of faith, not doubt. You’re still talking to God, not walking away. So, I say talk to God about it. Praying and talking to God about what is going on, what you are going through, is leaning into the good.
Scripture says God can work through suffering (Romans 8:28 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.), but it never says suffering feels easy. Even Jesus wept and asked “Why?” (Matthew 27:46) About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). If He did, you’re not wrong to.
But we know that all we have to do is call out to Him. He has shown me over and over how close He is to me.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” (Psalm 34:18)
“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
It doesn’t say just cast some anxiety. It says All of it. Even the anxiety that feels repetitive, unresolved, or embarrassing. Even the anxieties that occur each day when you wake up and sit on the side of the bed. Even the anxiety that you can’t comprehend.
And when the pain keeps coming and understanding doesn’t?
“We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)
That’s not a command to stop feeling, it’s an understanding that clarity often comes after endurance, not before. That we need to continue to look to God in ALL things, at ALL times, and to keep doing that!
Share it with your Heavenly Father, He wants to hear from you.
And in all of the pain that feels heaviest right now, loss, waiting, unanswered prayers, concerns for family or friends, our world as it is: I’m here with you in it. Let’s cry out to Him together.
Peace,
PTV