Good morning. As a parent I can tell you that one of the most frustrating parts of the experience is when you see the child you love making a decision, or heading down a path, or choosing a relationship, or doing something that you believe with all your heart is going to cause them pain, and they refuse to listen. It is very difficult to see the ones you love in pain, especially when that pain could have been avoided. But, and this is an important “but”, if they survive the experience and learn from it, well then we see that the pain had an important message which needed to be heard.
God speaks to us through pain. I love this quote from C.S. Lewis in his book “The Problem of Pain”. Lewis wrote: “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our consciences, but shouts in our pain: pain is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” (The emphasis is mine.)
I was reading an article recently written by Daniel Ritchie. He begins the article by explaining that he was born without arms. He writes, “I stepped into suffering at birth. My physical body is a billboard for my pain. This has brought mocking, cruel jokes, stares, and the constant feeling that I am not like anyone else that I meet. I have never been able to hide. Many people can bury their pain, but my heartache is written all over my two empty sleeves. Those sleeves tell a story without my mouth ever saying a word. My pain almost swallowed me. But Christ showed me how much greater he was than my empty sleeves.” (Again, the emphasis is mine.)
Ritchie goes on to explain that he gives praise to God with humble thanksgiving every day for his pain. He wrote that he has become keenly aware of God’s presence and of His character in his suffering, and that it is only when self-sufficiency is peeled away that we understand how weak and needy we all truly are.
Daniel Ritchie’s experience and his very godly understanding of his situation reminds of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Please listen for the voice of God today. If you are presently experiencing something challenging, even painful in your life, listen all the more carefully. Why? Because God’s megaphone is pointing your way.
Vern