Posts tagged as:

pain

Then the Devil Went Away. . .

by Sheryl R. Helms on April 17, 2009 · 0 comments

Daily Reading

1Samuel 19
1Chronicles 7
Psalm 59
Matthew 4

Scripture

11 Then Saul sent troops to watch David’s house. They were told to kill David when he came out the next morning. (1Sam 19:11)

1 Rescue me from my enemies, O God.
Protect me from those who have come to destroy me.
4 I have done nothing wrong,
yet they prepare to attack me.
Wake up! See what is happening and help me! (Ps 59:1,4)

1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus. (Mt 4:1,2,11)

Observation

Jesus just finished with 40 hard days and nights of fasting out in the dessert.  Satan tempted Him in his weakest moment.  Where were the angels of God during this time?  I imagine them hovering just outside the boundaries God made for them, wanting so bad to go and protect Jesus; wanting to kick Satan’s butt.  They knew, however, the things that must take place.  They knew that Jesus’ temptation was necessary in order to fulfil the greater plan of salvation for the entire human race.  They also knew that there would be another time when Jesus would have to do it on His own and this was only prepratory for that time; that moment on the cross when God would turn His face away from His Son because He could not look upon sin.  That hour when Jesus would cry out “My God, My God, Why have you abandoned me?” (Mk 15:34) They stayed back until Satan left defeated by Jesus without their intervention.  Then I imagine they rushed in, like air filling a void, and ministered to Jesus.

Application

Sometimes God seems like He is nowhere to be found.  We ask for His help and protection and we don’t get it.  We cry out to Him, as David did multiple times as he was being persued by his enemies.  Did God step in at the moment of anguish and rescue David?  Or Jesus the moment he cried out?  No.  He allowed them to suffer and dispair because He, and He alone knows WHY.  We can see why David and Jesus suffered because it was so long ago.  Hindsight is 20/20 so they say.  So, when we cry out to God and He doesn’t seem to answer, we can take comfort in knowing He is there, He is watching, His angels are surrounding us waiting for God to give them the go-ahead to minister to us.  Then they rush in and we have peace.  Peace that passes all understanding, because it comes at a time when we seem to have failed.  David seemed to have failed because he ran away from his enemies, Jesus was a tired and hungry man alone in a dessert; the picutre of failure; and what a bigger sense of failure it must have been when he died utterly alone, with God not even looking at Him?  But that is when triumph is at hand and God allows us to be ministered to and gives us peace.

Prayer

Father God, I do not ask for suffering, I don’t want to suffer.  I never again want to feel dispair and hopelessness, but I know if I do, I can take comfort knowing You are there.  I may not be able to feel You or sense you, but I KNOW because that is what faith is.  I have faith, and therefore have hope, that You will rescue me when the time is right.  You know WHY I suffer, help me to be strong during those times so that Your perfect plan can be accomplished in me and Your glory will shine from me and the whole world will know that YOU ARE GOD!  Thank-you, Father.

{ 0 comments }

Living Through Pain (part 2)

by Sheryl R. Helms on December 3, 2008 · 3 comments

Recently my church had a series called “When Life Hurts Most” that really expounded on my previous post about living through pain.  Many people commented about that post through personal e-mail and shared their own experiences with me, so I would like to add what I learned from our recent series.  (Incidentally, I love hearing your comments and stories and if you don’t feel comfortable posting it on my site just say “great post” or some such under the comment section and then send me a personal e-mail.  That way it will actually look like people read this stuff!)

[click to continue…]

{ 3 comments }

Living Though Pain

by Sheryl R. Helms on December 30, 2007 · 2 comments

In Acts 16:16-40, Paul and Silas were wrongly humiliated, severely beaten and then thrown into prison.  Somehow, they found the strength to offer a sacrifice of praise to God.  I can only imagine what I would want to do: curl up into a ball and ask God why He allowed me to fail and why He allowed me to have so much pain. Surely God would not allow me to be beaten if He is a God of love.  Plus, I was doing what He called me to do in the first place.  I would pity myself. 

 Somehow, Paul and Silas praised God.  I don’t believe that God anesthetized their pain.  I believe they suffered through the pain and praised God until the pain became bearable.  That is the challenge we face: living the pain and suffering until it becomes bearable.  When praise is the LAST thing that comes naturally to us and we choose to worship Him anyway, we’ve just had the privilege of offering a genuine sacrifice of praise. 

The pain in my life over the past few years has been depression and anxiety.  God has taught me to praise Him even though that is the very last thing I’ve wanted to do.  I remember sitting on my front porch and telling God that I didn’t believe He could exist because there is no way He could be a loving God and allow me so much despair and anguish.  But, I reached beyond what I felt and did what I knew.  I thanked God for the day even when I couldn’t get out of bed to see it.  I thanked Him for my job even though the thought of going there caused every symptom of a heart attack.  I thanked Him for my children, even though I feared them.  I thanked Him for my husband who was about the only thing I really was thankful for.  I sang to God.  I danced before God.  I  smiled at the world.  In my peer review from work were things like “she is always so happy and brings peace to the department” “she is level headed and does not become overly excited at stressful situations” “she helps us to feel relaxed and happy”.  These all came during my deepest period of anxiety and depression!  When my husband had to drive me to work because I was afraid to drive, when I would spend my lunch hour hidden in an unused room crying, when each time I entered a patient’s room my heart would feel as if it were bursting through my chest.  This is not faking peace or happiness, this is grabbing a hold of what you can’t feel, but knowis there.  It is the evidence of things unseen.  It is FAITH that God is there and that He loves you.  The change in my life was not instantaneous.  God did not see a child struggling and drop a flash of joy down into my life.  Slowly I crawled out of my pit of hell and I can now FEEL God again.  But when I begin to notice the signs of depression or dispair or when my heart starts to pound and I feel like running away, I stop and immediately thank God for His goodness.  I KNOW that I will survive.  I may again decend into that deep dark pit of dispair, but even though I may not feel God’s presence, I will praise Him and know He is there.  I will continue to offer my sacrifice of praise to Him.

{ 2 comments }