Desperate for Relief
“In our sleep, pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop up on the heart
And in our own despair, against our will,
Comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”
- Aeschylus
I arrived in Mulberry (2011) with big eyes, and an open heart. I thought I was ready for whatever God wanted to bring my way.
There are times in my life when I become desperate for relief in the midst of my suffering or inconvenience. If God does not give me the relief I think I need, in the amount of time I think I need it, I begin to search for it myself. While some may turn to the bottom of a bottle or some other numbing substance, the relief I’m referring to is the seemingly good relief yet not from God relief. It’s the “makes sense” fixes to my life. It’s the looking for another job because my current one is unbearable (although God had called me to the job). It’s the looking for another church because my current one is not meeting my needs (although God had called us to it). It’s the cutting off of a friendship because the pain of discipleship seems to much to bear (although God called me to disciple). Yet today I am growing, and today I am learning. I am finding that those simple relief efforts will, in the end, not truly relieve me of anything.***
The problem with my relief efforts is this: they delay what God is trying to do in my life. My efforts end up being in vain, as God, in His mercy, keeps me in the uncomfortable season. God loves me too much to hand me over to what I think is best. Oswald Chamber said it best:
“Patience is more than endurance. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, and He stretches and strains, and every now and again the saint says - ‘I cannot stand anymore.’ God does not heed, He goes on stretching till His purpose is in sight, then He lets fly. Trust yourself in God’s hands.”
I encourage you (and myself) today to look for the blessing in the midst of your suffering and trust God in this process. God will bring relief when relief is needed but in the meantime thank Him for bringing you this far and stand in confidence that he will bring you through to the end.
-L
This is one of the first images I took when I arrived in Mulberry (September 2011). I’ve always loved the image as I think it encompasses what Mulberry has been ( and continues to be) to me: beautiful and painful.
***I think it is important to note that following God and not giving up in the midst of suffering, should never be a license to stay in an abusive situation. Do not confuse the suffering God allows in our lives with abuse. God is not calling you to be abused.