Why is it so hard sometimes to fully embrace the reality of our relationship with the Lord?
My wife, LaVern, shared something powerful with me from one of her devotional readings. The Lord is engaged in a conversation with a man who is deeply hurting, and whose faith has taken a severe hit because of it. The man says, “It is undeniable that pain blinds my ability to see You. Maybe I know pain better than I know You. Maybe the certainty of its presence seems more real than the mystery of our relationship. I don’t want that to be true, but sometimes it is.”
Wow! Now that’s some raw honesty. And, truthfully, it’s a feeling many of us wrestle with. Pain has a way of stealing the spotlight, demanding our full attention while the quiet, steady reality of God’s love waits patiently in the wings.
If that man’s comment were a volleyball and the Lord was the referee, the Lord would rule it as “in.” Because “the Lord delights in truth in the innermost being” (Psalm 51:6). It is through honest engagement with Him that we experience the truth of our relationship with Him—that His love is as certain as the cross, and His presence is just as real as the pain we face.
Yes, pain makes the mystery of our relationship with the Lord harder to grasp, but at the same time, experiencing His care as we work through it with Him reinforces its reality. May God’s grace, dispensed through His indwelling Spirit, help us to internalize that truth.
Something to take just a moment to pray through and consider today.
Leave a Reply