Acts 11:19-30 | God Leads From New Placesනියැදිය

CS Lewis writes that God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts in our pains. It’s often our pain that motivates us to seek God.

What would have happened if persecution never came to Jerusalem? Would the early disciples have ever been Jesus’ witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth? Or would they have stayed comfortable and content in Jerusalem? Sadly for some, the desire for obedience is often not enough.

Never doubt this. Never ever doubt this. God is not in the business of inflicting pain. But never doubt this. Never ever doubt this. God will use your pain and work through it. Pain often motivates us to seek God and his will. It’s said that the glory of God is most revealed on a cross. Jesus. In pain. And God brought his will to the world through it. God is a god who suffers. With us. And for us.

Pain brings us to a new place. Suffering brought those early disciples to different place, literally. And God worked mightily there in Antioch. Your pain will bring you to a new place. Maybe not literally, but certainly to a new way of being and seeing the world. Seek God in it. God’s voice will cry out in it, even if you can’t hear it.

What new places have you come to in your pain? How has God worked or how is God working? How might God work still?