Monday, August 19, 2013

How Do You Respond To Pain?


Once I asked my very wise Grandma, “How did you get so smart and wise?” She said, "Experience." I then asked, "How did you get so much experience?" She said, "From making so many bad choices and mistakes." Life has a way of teaching us many lessons. But is that the only KEY to growing and learning?

Eliphaz is about to respond to Job's suffering and pain with his own wisdom and reasoning for Job’s disasters in life. He says "My experiences in life show me that God doesn't allow the righteous to suffer.” He declares, "When have the upright been destroyed? My experience shows me that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.” (Job 4:8)

Each one of us needs to be so careful in the way we respond to people in their pain and misery. Eliphaz was saying to Job, "The reason for your pain and dilemmas in life is, "You have done something evil and now you are reaping the harvest of it."

Friend, never allow your own experiences to be the final teacher of Truth. God doesn't base Truth on your experiences alone. Never make experiences the bar for truth. The accuracy of truth is based upon the Word of God alone.

The Word of God will not mislead you, nor will it derail you. There are a lot of things that will happen in your life that will make no sense at all. If everything made sense in your Christian life, you wouldn't need FAITH to walk this journey. God says, "We walk not by sight but by faith." (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Eliphaz’s first mistake was that he tried to explain away Job's problems based on his own experiences. Now had he stayed with the Word of God, he might have said something like this, “Job, "The just shall live by Faith."(Habakkuk 2:4) He might have said, "No weapon formed against thee shall prosper." (Isaiah 54:17) He might have said, "I will bless the Lord at all times and His praise shall continually be in my mouth." (Psalm 34:10) He might have said, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5, 6)

The next time you try to explain away someone else's ordeal, or even your own pain, don't just look at some past experience but rather look to the Word of God that will never let you down nor derail you from God's plan and purpose for your life.
Dannysdevotional.com

 

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