1549) As a middle-aged, going on senior-aged individual, I am facing a reality that I have blindly resisted and that is, in this life, there will always be pain. Because of this, I’d rather stick my head in the sand and pretend that if I can just think a painful situation through, I can make the pain stop. If I just have enough faith, then my overwhelming feelings will calm. If I discipline my mind enough, the anxiety I feel will dissipate. Again, the harsh reality is, there is pain in this life; no one escapes it.
In John 16:33, Jesus is seeking to get his disciples to understand this harsh reality. He says, (in my words) There will always be trials and sorrows on this earth. What? So, I just need to suck it up with this reality? I believe the answer is yes and no.
Yes, I need to accept the fact that every sort of pain is part of this life and wishing it weren’t, doesn’t help. It doesn’t matter if someone you see (or read about) seems to have a less-stressful life; the hard truth is, they don’t and I won’t either.
No, I don’t have to spend all my time focusing on the pain. This does not mean I deny it’s there. Instead, I can bring the pain to God, telling him about it and asking for strength. He promises to do this.
By telling God all about the pain of my life, sometimes I feel that he only helped me just get by. Because of this, I sometimes downplay God’s help and even think to myself that God helping me through something, even just getting by, doesn’t count. I survived this pain, but barely.
I understand this thinking and feeling, but if I shift my thoughts around a bit, I can have another perspective of God just helping me get by. If I have just barely survived a car accident, do I feel ripped off because God helped me barely get by? If people are being laid off at work and I just barely made the cut, do I feel anger at God for my staying on the payroll, even though I almost lost my job?
The bottom line is, Jesus said there will be trials and sorrows in this life but throughout the Bible, God’s thumbprint is evident through every joy and triumph, too. Both of these things are facts of this life.
