Beautiful Misery & Amazing Pain?

To those hurting,

Some of you may have strong feelings against me after reading this, but as a future pastor I think it’s necessary that I begin answering critical questions that a countless number of us have.  In this post I am going to attempt to tackle the tremendous burden of why pain/ or bad things happen?

This idea came to me today out of nowhere in the middle of my church’s worship service (ironically our senior pastor talked exactly about this just moments later!) I’ve heard a number of people ask why a good, loving God could allow so much misery and pain to exist in life. I myself have even asked God and others this multiple times. 

 Why do natural disasters destroy millions of lives and why does God allow this?

 Why do innocent people suffer death at the hands of a smoking gun?

Why does something as terrible as cancer exist?  And why did so and so get it?

Why do thousands of children’s lives get ripped out from underneath them each and every day?

However, the question has always been something I had tried to sweep under the rug. I know it’s a complicated mess and because of this, I figured out that I never had come to a conclusion beyond the vague “we don’t understand” response. This morning, as I was standing there in the row singing songs about God’s love, I realized something that suddenly dispelled any vague mist that I had…

How can we truly say we love God unless we can boldly stare death in the eyes and say, “Jesus I still love You?”

By all means I never do want to suggest that I know the whole answer or can understand God’s reasoning but think about it. What good is it to say that we love God unless we actually mean it? And when your life is on the line that’s when the truth that your brain believes is separated from the truth that’s in your heart. How can we say that we truly love Christ unless we can say it while staring at our mother’s casket? How can we say that we truly love the Lord of our Lives unless we can say it while the Doctor points to the clipboard that says our baby boy has only 2 months left to live? How can we say that we truly love our Messiah unless we can say that he is still the one thing standing true when our whole world has been swept away?

Now I by no means am saying that we can’t have true faith unless our lives or those close to us are threatened, but I am saying that when you hit that brick wall of desperation and have nowhere else to turn but to Jesus Christ, something magical happens to your faith

In a sense you begin to see the beauty in the car crash

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James 1:2-4 clearly tell us to “consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  1 John 4:8 tells us that “God is love,” and if he is the very definition of love than everything he does is made out of a decision of love.

Maybe we shouldn’t be asking why God allows pain and trials, and instead start asking ourselves if we are aligned with the Father Heart of God.

Author Graham Cooke says “every time a tragedy comes my way I think “Good, an upgrade.””

 Do you view your pain and sorrow as misfortunes and injustices or as opportunities for God to strengthen you?

In times of trials and grief the Father comes to us way before we come to him

“God has a firmer grip on us than we do on him. Whatever is your greatest struggle is God’s greatest place of visitation.”

So the next time you find yourself drowning in a sea of grief take your loss to the cross and crucify it!

Merely,

Chris Gerac

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  James 1:2-4, NIV