Growing Pains
Posted in Misti's Posts, peace, Why does God allow pain? 0 comments
Last week, I sat in silence in my Sunday school class. That may not sound very unusual until I tell you that I am the teacher--usually. I woke up that morning with a terrible cold that turned out to be a wonderful blessing.
One of the students made an analogy that I spent the remainder of the lesson pondering. We were discussing the spiritual discipline of giving, and how sacrificial giving makes us very uncomfortable. The analogy was this: "Sin can be like a soft bed with lots of pillows and blankets. We get very comfortable in our sin. Living for God, in comparison, is like laying on a bed of nails. It looks like it could be very painful, but if we spread our body weight evenly over the nails, it's not."
So many things popped into my head at those words. First, I thought, "That really gives new meaning to Psalm 46:10: Be still, and know that I am God." The more we squirm on a bed of nails, the more pain we experience. It's when we lie still that we find peace.
Then I began to think about my relationship with God. It's his job to mold me into the image of Jesus. The potter does the work in molding the clay, but if the clay gets off center as it spins, a mess ensues. It's the same way with us. When we, the clay, resist the Potter's hand, we experience pain. When we resist God's leading, we fall down the wrong path and get hurt.
It's not easy to be still and let God change us. Even at our best, there will be hard lessons. I just keep going back in my mind to that image of lying still on a bed of nails. It takes a great deal of concentration to stay that still, and can you imagine the peace that would accompany such a stillness of body and mind?
That's the good gift God wants to give us-not comfort, but peace. Being comfortable is certainly desirable, but in this sinful world, we are more likely to experience comfort in the form of grief. Peace transcends hard times. God suffers with us during trials, but He has peace, because He knows how it's going to turn out for us. Because we are His children, we will have the best ending possible. Heaven is worth a little suffering on the journey, isn't it?
One of the students made an analogy that I spent the remainder of the lesson pondering. We were discussing the spiritual discipline of giving, and how sacrificial giving makes us very uncomfortable. The analogy was this: "Sin can be like a soft bed with lots of pillows and blankets. We get very comfortable in our sin. Living for God, in comparison, is like laying on a bed of nails. It looks like it could be very painful, but if we spread our body weight evenly over the nails, it's not."
So many things popped into my head at those words. First, I thought, "That really gives new meaning to Psalm 46:10: Be still, and know that I am God." The more we squirm on a bed of nails, the more pain we experience. It's when we lie still that we find peace.
Then I began to think about my relationship with God. It's his job to mold me into the image of Jesus. The potter does the work in molding the clay, but if the clay gets off center as it spins, a mess ensues. It's the same way with us. When we, the clay, resist the Potter's hand, we experience pain. When we resist God's leading, we fall down the wrong path and get hurt.
It's not easy to be still and let God change us. Even at our best, there will be hard lessons. I just keep going back in my mind to that image of lying still on a bed of nails. It takes a great deal of concentration to stay that still, and can you imagine the peace that would accompany such a stillness of body and mind?
That's the good gift God wants to give us-not comfort, but peace. Being comfortable is certainly desirable, but in this sinful world, we are more likely to experience comfort in the form of grief. Peace transcends hard times. God suffers with us during trials, but He has peace, because He knows how it's going to turn out for us. Because we are His children, we will have the best ending possible. Heaven is worth a little suffering on the journey, isn't it?
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