the greenest grass around

Seasons of pain have a way of stripping us down to our bare bones. These seasons make us feel alone. Not the alone when we are at home by ourselves enjoying a book but the alone where we think we have been left, abandoned, and forgotten.

Suffering can make you feel truly alone, abandoned, and forgotten. In Job 3:3-26 he was literally asking why he was even born.

All of us have been through some form of loss or grief. Whether it was the loss of a loved one, the town you had to leave when you thought you put down roots, or the job you hated to leave but it was necessary. Suffering can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. We have to remember that everyone has a story to tell. (And everyone’s story is worth listening to) Everyone at one point in life could say, “You haven’t walked a mile in my shoes.” Each of us has suffered this pain. Suffering is investable. 2 Timothy 3:12 states, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Matthew 24:9 goes on to state, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated in all nations because of my name.”

Not only do we have bad days, but the Bible especially states that we will suffer, and if we truly want God to be the Lord of our life, we will suffer like Jesus. That is not reassuring at all.

But let’s look at it from a different perspective (Remember, I am all about perspectives this year.)

How do you become closer to someone? When do you truly know a person? It’s when things are not going their way. You see it all the time in movies. Someone likes a person, but someone else is dating another person. The original person will do all kinds of not-very-nice things to make the person of their affection like them and not the other.

Or when there is a promotion a work. Multiple people are trying for promotion which means more money or power. Inevitably someone will rise to the occasion and show their true colors but throw others under the bus. When bad things happen, it’s in our human nature to try and fix them. We show our true colors when things are not going great or we want something to go our way.

When all else fails, we have true, bare, gut-ranching conversations with God. Gone are the formal facades and quick memorized prayers for peace. You come as you are and lay it all down before God’s feet. It won’t be pretty. It will not be eloquent. You might not even address him as the creator of the universe should be, but you will be close to God. Maybe the closest you have ever been.

We see this in Psalms, Job, Lamentations, and Jeremiah, to name a few books. God’s people, on their faces, cry out to God in pain, suffering, torment, longing, and despair. We even see Jesus himself crying out to God in the face of death in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Suffering leaves us naked and broken. But if we use these times of sorrow to confront God with our troubles, it can lead to a deeper and closer relationship with him.

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalm 56:8 and another of God’s promises in Psalms, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of their troubles.” Psalm 34:17.

I pray that you find rest and comfort in God’s hands. Cry out to him and let him embrace you. Ask him for peace that surpasses all understanding. Find him in the midst of your storm and focus on him.