A Time to Cry and a Time to Laugh

I was driving down the road recently and suddenly remembered that I forgot to take something to alleviate the pain in my foot. Twenty minutes earlier I was in my house and preparing to resume my shopping adventure after I made a stop at home to change shoes. But, as my memory is not quite as good as it used to be, I was distracted and forgot. I was already several miles from my house before I realized that I'd forgotten to take that ibuprofen before I left. {sigh}

I started to reason with myself. Okay, maybe the pain isn't bad enough for me to turn around and go home. I decided to just deal with it and be careful to not overdo it.

That's when a thought popped into my head. The purpose of pain is to warn the body of a problem. I was reminded of stories I'd read in the past people who are born without the ability to feel pain. Sounds wonderful, right? You might think so, but the problem is that they are susceptible to serious injury. The person who is unable to feel pain would not realize it when they grab a too-hot skillet or when they twist an ankle and keep walking on it until it breaks.

As I was processing these thoughts my mind recalled another kind of pain: emotional pain. There are many times I would have given anything to not have to feel grief, heartbreak, or hurt feelings.As I compared emotional pain to physical pain, it seemed to me that there were a lot of similarities. Both types of pains are indicators that something is wrong and requires attention. Just as the pain in my foot reminded me to walk carefully and take it easy, emotional pain should be an indicator to attend to whatever is causing that pain.

The trouble with the emotional pain is that society is uncomfortable with it. So, we're taught to shake it off, dry up the tears, and be tough. Carry on! Be a trooper! As with the physical pain, we seek ways to mask the emotional pain with some sort of pain killer. I won't go into all the ways we (as a society) tend to cover up the emotional pain. I think you get the idea. The point of this is to remind myself and others that emotional pain is a normal part of life.


Ecclesiastes 3:4 reminds us that there is...

A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.

Remember Hannah? She was the childless woman in the Bible who felt years of emotional pain. Being childless in those days was considered a disgrace. It didn't help that her husband had another wife who was able to give him children. Hannah deeply desired to give her husband a child and she prayed about it for years. She cried and she even refused to eat. Each time she went to the temple, she prayed about her heartache. Hannah was so distraught that she became outwardly emotional about it as she talked to God. The priest was observing her from a distance and thought Hannah must have been drinking because she was that upset as she prayed!

The Bible reminds us that...

   The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose
       spirits are crushed. (Ps. 34:18)

   He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. (Ps. 147:3)

   The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
        and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. (Is. 61:1)

   Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians that "they were crushed and overwhelmed 
        beyond their ability to endure" but they learned to rely on God during this time.
        And he goes on to say in chapter 4, verses 8 and 9 that...

       "We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, 
               but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.  
               We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed."


To be perfectly honest, my first reaction is not to embrace the pain and allow God to truly heal the emotional pain. More often than not I lean toward feeling overwhelmed and crushed. I want Him to take the pain away. I want it to just go away. God could take it away, but He may want to use the pain as part of the healing process. If I seek ways to mask or avoid the pain I may delay healing.

As I was drafting this post, I read the following quote in Streams in the Desert...

"God seems to use the pressure of pain to trample out the 

fulfillment of His promises and thereby release the sweetest juice 

of His winepress. Only those who have known sorrow can 

fully appreciate the great tenderness of the 'man of sorrows.'"

It's comforting to know that Jesus understands our emotional pain. He wept over the death of his friend Lazarus. He also experienced the pain of rejection. So Jesus can certainly relate to any sort of pain you or I may experience.

Your Will Be Done

Are you familiar with King Hezekiah? A number of years ago I recall studying Hezekiah of the Old Testament. He was one of the few good kings who ruled over Judah. The story of Hezekiah made a lasting impression on me. I think about his story occasionally and was once again reminded of Hezekiah's story. 


Hezekiah followed the Lord, but he became ill and was told by a prophet that it was time to set his affairs in order. Hezekiah was told that he would not recover from the illness and would die. Imagine knowing that!  

Hezekiah did something bold--he prayed fervently for his life to be spared. He reminded God of his faithfulness to serve the Lord and how he always tried to please God in everything he did. 

So, Hezekiah was a good guy who loved God. He prayed for something he really wanted, asking God to change his mind and allow him to live. Then he wept bitterly. What Hezekiah was asking for was not really a bad thing (it wasn't against any of God's laws, it wasn't immoral, etc.). In his mind, Hezekiah wasn't ready to die and would like to continue leading Judah on the Lord's behalf.

God heard his prayer and extended Hezekiah's life by 15 years...

‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David’” (2 Kings 20:5).
 
But (wouldn't you know it) during those extra years bad things happened. Hezekiah allowed people from other countries to see all the treasures in Judah (the Babylonians would eventually come back and take all the treasures). This time also ushered in one of the worst kings in their history to take over when Hezekiah finally died--his own son, Manasseh. 

The sovereign God knew that it would be better for Hezekiah to die the first time he became so ill, but God allowed him to live. He answered Hezekiah's big prayer.

I think of this scenario sometimes when I pray those big prayers. In my hurt and suffering, when I ask God to change my circumstances--or those of others--I wonder if having my way will result in relief now, but more pain later? It always gives me pause to ask for God's will to be done.

The thing that I am learning is that it's okay to ask God and pray those big prayers. It's okay to believe God for big things, to have faith in a God who can move mountains and creates life.

God wants me to talk to Him about these big things and the little things that concern me. But, I also understand that when I ask, I should keep in mind what Jesus taught the disciples to pray in Matthew 6:10 says,"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Nuggets of Wisdom

It's been a while since I've shared a Nuggets of Wisdom post. So here's one which I was inspired to write after listening to Beth Moore who did a short video devotion this week. This one really spoke to me. The heart is deceitful...

What's inside your heart?

• There is a subtle difference between a Lie and Deception. A lie is usually something that we can recognize as such. An example of this would be if I told you that I was a supermodel in my spare time. Obvious lie. (wink) Deception is a lie that worked! We do not recognize something as a lie and suddenly we have been deceived.
• "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” ~ Jeremiah 17:9-10. Yes, our hearts (and emotions) can deceive us but God knows our hearts and our motives. If we ask God to reveal these places of deceit in our heart, He is more than willing to do so. But we also need to be willing to listen.
• We should seek the truth in our innermost parts and let God unearth these deceptions and heal.

I placed a link in the first paragraph to the devotion if you'd like to watch the entire video. I'll leave you with a few other verse references that Beth gave: Psalm 51:6 (Wisdom in our secret places); Acts 1:24 (God knows the heart of all); Jeremiah 17:14 (God will heal.) I encourage you to look up these references and meditate on them today.