Day 2: Purpose Behind Pain

The shift from victimhood to gratitude takes bravery. But when we do it, we affirm our understanding that God remains committed to redeeming all things.

Paul told the Philippians he was sure that everything that had happened to him had happened for a specific purpose. That purpose, you might guess, was to spread the gospel – God’s good news of love and grace.

By choosing gratitude over victimhood, Paul was able to center his thoughts on God's purpose behind the pain. He could focus on the impact of his imprisonment, which involved the palace guard coming to Christ. He could see that his ministry was far from over; in fact, it was only beginning.

But to see good purposes, we have to focus our gaze beyond our immediate situations. We have to remember that, even now, we have a choice. We can choose to praise and honor God right where we are. We can trust that we serve a God who is both transcendent and immanent - fancy words for saying that His ways are beyond human understanding and also that God chooses to be near us, to be with us, even in the hardest times when we cannot yet see how He could possibly bring anything good from our circumstances.

But what if God's plans include a grueling divorce, massive health problems, children leaving us, our families being uprooted, or a season of darkness that doesn't seem to shift? In the moment, when news of the stroke comes, when the decision is made to relocate, when doubt threatens to take us out – do we think God's plans are good then too?

I'm reminded of an experience a friend of mine went through when she lost her husband to a cruel battle with ALS. I asked whether she’d been mad at God at any point, given the tragedy she’d endured. The concept was so foreign to her that she seemed offended I'd even asked. “Mad at God?” she said. "You know, we never once asked, ‘Why?’ If anything, we asked ‘Why not?’" She said their faith in Jesus assured them that God would use even his disease and eventual death for good. Her husband did proclaim Jesus to the very end, even from his wheelchair through a voice simulator. God has used it. And God is still using it.

"I still don't fully accept that he is gone, never to come back," she said. "But this much I do know: his death was not an ending but an extension. And I'm determined to stick around to find out what that extension involves."

My friend knows God’s not done with her or her husband’s story. He's not done with yours either. Whatever you've gone through and whatever you’ve faced, He is in the business of redeeming it all.

PRAYER: God, Your plans are unknowable, but I trust that they are good. You are a redeemer through and through, I choose to center my thoughts on You and see what You will do. Amen.