God and pain

The last post, based on Hosea 6 stated "God has torn us so that He may heal us."
"God is totally committed to you and He will accomplish the purpose of the pain," quoting James Mcdonald in His book Dounpour.

There are so many directions Hosea 6 could take us. Does God cause all pain? Does He just allow it? Or is He not involved in the pain or its source? What part does satan play in pain? Is pain just a result of our fallen status?

The challenge I pick up is: what is your view of God. How do you picture God?
* Like santa claus - One who has no expectations, just a loving Being who wants to give good gifts.
*A stern judge, with gavel in hand, high demands, heavy on the justice.
*An ethereal smoke ring, hard to grasp.
*An uninvolved, abandoning step father????

I believe A.W. Tozer is right when he said, "what you think about God is the most important thing about you." Our whole existence is affected by our view of God.

My view of God has evolved from that of a stern judge to a Loving Heavenly papa, who desires to give me good gift thers (Matt.7:11). Who promises to work everything that happens to me for my good (Romans 8:28). Whose expectaion of me is obedience to His Word - which has many ramific ations.

Thus my view of God in this 4 wheeler accident that leaves me in constant foot pain and unable to walk is: God allowed it. I believe He knew it was going to happen because it must have been Him who prompted me to take my cell phone. I wasn't into the habit of carrying it. Those close to me say there is a softening in my countenance. More peace. More gentleness. And I can tell a stripping of sself-sufficiency and pride. More of a healthy dependency on God and others. I could go on but the point is: God has torn me so that He canl heal me.

Pain

Having spent the bulk of my vocational life in counseling, I’m well acquainted with other people’s pain. And like all of us, I’ve experienced my share. We’re not to seek out pain. That would be masochistic. But to see the value of hurting is our challenge. (I wonder if bronc and bull riders are masochistic :-)

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. (James 1:2-5).

I like Os Hillman's perspective. “God often allows pain to ignite destiny in our lives. Without motivation, many of us would never fulfill the purposes for which God created us. Oftentimes a measured assault invades our life and creates a depth of pain that all we know to do is press into God with all our being.

“At first, our motivation is to alleviate the pain. After a season of extreme emotional and sometimes physical pain, a second phase begins. This phase moves us to discover a new and deeper relationship with God. We begin to discover things about ourselves and about God that we never would have discovered without this motivation. Gradually, our heart changes our motivation from pain to loving obedience because there is a transition of the heart that takes place. No longer do we seek God for deliverance from the pain; we seek God because He is God. We seek His face and not His hand.

“When we move to the second phase we often find ourselves moving into a new destiny and calling for our lives because God often separates us from the old life in this process. No doubt Joseph and Peter felt the pain of their individual crises. However, later they could realize God's purposes in their crisis. Like Joseph, we are able to say, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."

From a place of pain to the place of destiny, allow God to show us the value of the pain we are or have experienced. Whether the hurt is self-induced or other’s prompted, our focus is “God, what do you want me to learn – how do you want to use this in my life for my maturation?”

Two Teachers, Two Pains

Spring is a beautiful time in our back yard with the water fall surrounded by blooming iris and other striking colors.

There are two effective teachers. We must choose one, either WISDOM or CONSEQUENCES. Lessons learned from consequences result in real suffering and acute pain. She is the tougher teacher with a back-end price, according to "The Divine Mentor" a book written by Wayne Cordeiro.

Wisdom has a front end price – discipline, obedience, consistency and time. Wisdom learns from the experiences of others, beyond their lifetime and beyond their own experiences. The primary source for wisdom garnered from others is the Bible – viewing the successes and failures of Biblical characters. "The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true. It shows us what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out. It helps us do what is right. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point fully equipped to do good to everyone." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 LB
Garnering wisdom from people we respect, who've "gone on before us", who have experienced a portion of life that interests us, is also a key source.

Just as there are two teachers, so there are two pains, two kinds of pain – the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. For wisdom we need the pain of discipline. The pain of regret is associated with the teacher consequences. The pain of discipine costs far less than the pain of regret.

FEED YOURSELF WITH WISDOM. We'll post tomorrow some thoughts on garnering wisdom.