God Knows Your Pain

Words of wisdom from a young boy. God understands your pain. Just run to Him.

Roger Simms had just left the military and was hitchhiking home when a shiny, black, luxury car pulled over and the passenger door opened. Sliding into the leather-covered front seat, he was greeted by a friendly distinguished older gentleman.

"Hello, son. Are you on leave?"

"Discharged," answered Roger, "and I'm going home."

"You're in luck if you're going to Chicago," smiled the man.

"My home is on the way," said Roger. "Do you live there, Mister?"

"Yes, I have a business there." And with that, they were on their way. After talking about everything under the sun, Roger felt a strong compulsion to witness to Mr. Hanover about Christ. But witnessing to a wealthy businessman who obviously had everything was a scary prospect. Witnessing to anyone, as you know, can be tough to work up the courage to do. Roger put it off, but as he neared his destination, he knew it was now or never. 

"Mr. Hanover," he began, "I'd like to talk to you about something very important." Then he explained the way of salvation and asked Mr. Hanover if he would like to receive Christ as his Savior. To Roger's astonishment, the big car pulled to the side of the road and the gentleman began to cry, affirming that he did in fact want to accept Christ. He thanked Roger for talking to him, then dropped him at his house and travelled on to Chicago.

Five years went by, and Roger Simms married and started a business of his own. One day, while on a business trip to Chicago, he sought out the offices of Hanover Enterprises. It would be impossible to see Mr. Hanover, the receptionist informed him, but he might speak with Mrs. Hanover. Roger was led into a poshly-decorated office where a woman sat at a huge oak desk.

She extended her hand. "You knew my husband?"

Roger explained how Mr. Hanover had been kind enough to give him a ride home.

A look of interest crossed her face. "Can you tell me what date that was?"

"It was May 7th five years ago," said Roger, "the day I was discharged from the army."

"And did anything unusual happen on your ride?"

Roger hesitated. Had his witness been a source of contention which resulted in a marital breakup? But he must be truthful. "Your husband accepted the Lord that day. I explained the gospel to him, and we pulled to the side of the road and prayed together."

The woman began to sob. Finally she composed herself and explained: "I prayed for my husband for years, and I believed God would save him. But just after he let you out of his car, he passed away in a horrible head-on collision. I thought God had let me down, and I stopped living for the Lord five years ago because I blamed Him for not keeping His word."

I could not verify whether that story is true - it could just be a modern parable, but it illustrates the point that all too often, in our despair we give up on God. Yet we should not give up when we need Him most. I see it all too often. People give up on God just at that point when God is needed most. They will quit coming to church when the church would provide the help, encouragement, and healing needed to transition through the situation. We, humans, have an unhealthy tendency to cut off those who challenge the way we live. And yet when we despair and stray, we need to be challenged to live differently.

We cannot abandon the truth that God knows our pain. He knows our struggles. And through it all, we need to remind ourselves that God still loves us. Our suffering does not mean that God loves us any less. 

God knows your pain. Don't give up on Him. Don't despair. Run to Him. Find peace in Him. 

You will find the comfort He provides when you keep focused on Him. It cannot be found anywhere else. It can't be found at the bottom of a bottle. It can't be found in another movie. It can't be found on Facebook. God can get to you during all of those activities because He will pursue you where you are and wants you to know that He still loves you. But the solution to our despair can't be found anywhere except in Him and in His people.
As the little boy said, " God understands your pain. Just run to Him."
And that is just what the Israelites did in the book of Exodus.

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:9-10 (ESV).

God heard their cries. The Israelites were crying out to the Lord because of the oppression of their taskmasters. Instead of fleeing from God for allowing them to be tormented, they cried out to God in their anguish. They believed in an all-powerful God who could save them despite their situation saying otherwise. And we see that God heard their cries and delivered them out of Egypt.

The principle that God hears our cries, that he knows our pain, is something taught throughout Scripture. We do not serve a distant God, who doesn't understand what we are going through. We serve a close God, who dwells in our hearts. Even when we are suffering, we can rest assured that God knows our pain.

And He doesn't just know our pain, he knows what it's like to go through it.

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?” John 11:33-37 (ESV).

I'm not one to say that Jesus causes our illnesses and pain. But He is one who sympathizes with us. 

 

He knew the great miracle that He was about to do in bringing Lazarus back from the dead, but He still wept when he saw the sorrow of those He loved. He's not a cold, distant, and heartless God; He's caring and close.

It's one of those mysteries. How does God sympathize with us in our pain if He is the one who could miraculously stop our pain?

The only answer that I can go to for comfort is the idea that God knows more than me. He knows that what I am going through, if it is allowed to persist, will shape me more into who He wants me to be. This physical body is passing, and the spiritual will remain. From His perspective, being spiritually who He wants us to be, who He designed us to be, is the most important thing. And from my perspective, it sometimes isn't. It is so difficult for me to overcome my physical impulses at times. That stubbed toe seems more significant than my spiritual self at that moment. That unending pain. That sexual desire. The materialism and pleasure. I want it all. The physical things of this world all seem more important than my spiritual self-development when I am not right with God. But that is because I fail to totally surrender everything to Jesus. 

But I can find peace in this. When things happen around me to cause me to despair, God knows what I'm going through. And He can stop it. But for some reason He often doesn't. When a deranged shooter marches into a kindergarten classroom and God doesn't stop it, I become confused. And I will just have to trust in his reasoning rather than mine, knowing that His ways are greater than my ways, that His plan is better than my plan, and that His knowledge of the situation is better than our knowledge of the situation.  If I keep focused on Him, I will find the comfort He provides, and I will find myself where He wants me to be, doing what He wants me to do, while being who He wants me to be.

Just the other day, I walked downstairs into the living room. Elsi scurried over to me to have me pick her up. I did. But I couldn't hold her long because I was working and had to get back to work. So I sat her back down, and she bawled. She felt rejected by me. She felt abandoned by me. And the truth of the matter is that she was. Not in a mean sense - I had my reasons -, but I had to leave her to do other work.

But God is different than me. He is there with us - in our pain, joy, triumphs, sadness. In our greatest moments and our darkest valleys - He never leaves us. He isn't like me - where he can only be at one place at one time doing only one thing. He's everywhere. He's there in your room, trying to give you comfort while you're weeping on the bed, at the same time he's with the parents in the emergency room whose child is dying, while at the same time he is with that teenager choosing to experiment with drugs for the first time because he's trying to find meaning. And he is even in a classroom where great man-made tragedy strikes.

Even if the tragedy is a result of making stupid decisions, like Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent, who was scheduled to start last Sunday, yet Saturday morning he found himself wrapping up a night of partying and drinking on the town. He made the stupid decision of getting behind the wheel drunk. Followed that decision with another stupid one of speeding. This all led to him crashing and killing his passenger, teammate and friend since college. Josh had this to say from prison, where he is sitting on intoxication manslaughter chargers while his good friend is dead.

“I am devastated and filled with grief. Filled with grief for the loss of my close friend...I am also grief-stricken for his family, friends (who knew) him. I will live with this horrific and tragic loss every day.”

We have all done stupid things and paid consequences for them. Some of us more than others. But even when the tragedy is by our own doing, and we want to beat ourselves up because we think that we are only getting what we deserve, God is there, and He knows your pain. God's presence, unlike mine, is not finite. He is not limited to only being in one place at one time. He doesn't leave you because He needs to get back to "more important things." He stays with you during your deepest trials, even if they're self-inflicted.

God knows your pain. Don't give up on Him. Don't despair. Run to Him. Find comfort in Him.

Once we realize this, we can live out the tough teachings of Scripture.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.  Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.  Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:14-21 (ESV).

Unfortunately, most of our worst times in life are inflicted on us, not by ourselves, but by others. Sometimes it is just circumstances, but often there is an enemy involved. Someone who is not looking out for our best interests. Someone who actually might be trying to harm us.

Loving that person is contrary to our instincts. Paul teaches us to feed our hungry enemy. Give something to drink to our thirsty enemy. Overcome evil by doing good. Bless those who attack us and say bad things about us. We can only be empowered to do this when we truly believe that God will enact vengeance when it is needed. That everything is in God's hands. That He is even with us during our pain. Nothing goes unnoticed by God.

God knows your pain. Don't give up on Him. Don't despair. Run to Him. Find comfort in Him.

Solomon Rosenberg, his wife and their 2 sons were arrested, together with Rosenburg's mother and father for the "terrible" crime of being Jews. They were placed in a Nazi concentration camp.

It was a labour camp, and the rules were simple.

"As long as you can do your work, you are permitted to live. When you become too weak to do your work, then you will be exterminated."

Rosenberg watched as his mother and father were marched off to their deaths. He knew that the next would be his youngest son, David - because David had always been a frail child.

Every evening, Rosenberg came back into the barracks after each day of hard labour and searched for the faces of his family. When he found them they would huddle together, embrace one another and thank God for another day of life.

One day Rosenberg came back and didn’t see those familiar faces.

He finally discovered his oldest son, Joshua, in a corner, huddled, weeping and praying. He said, "Josh, tell me it’s not true."

Joshua turned and said, "It is true, Dad. Today David was not strong enough to do his work. So they came for him."

"But where is your mother?" asked Mr. Rosenberg.

"Oh Dad," he said, "When they came for David, he was afraid and he cried. So Mum said, 'There is nothing to be afraid of, David,' and she took his hand and went with him."

That illustrates a mother’s love-- a love so strong that it chooses to give up life so her child can be comforted." (Story taken from Sermon Central).

Our hearts yell, "Why? Why did God allow this to happen?" And I don't have an answer.

But then our hearts also hear the echo of true love in this story. That love of the mother for her child. It's beautiful. It's like a shiny coin in the midst of a tarnished pile.

It's an echo of the love of Jesus on that cross.

Rick Stacy shared the following story:

A young preacher heard about a sudden and tragic death of a teenager in a car accident. He rushed to the home of the parents only to find them standing in the front yard next to their car. They had just arrived home from the hospital.

He didn’t know what to say so he said nothing. They hugged and cried together. After an hour he left… never uttering a word.

He felt he had failed until several weeks later he received a card from the couple thanking him for the comfort he gave them that day. They thanked him for not saying anything but for just being there and sharing their grief."

We wish pain and suffering didn't happen, but it does. I wish I could tell you that if you give your life over to Jesus, you would no longer have to experience any pain. But you will. I wish I could protect all of you from nights of despair and times of trouble. But I can't.

But I can tell you this promise. God is always there for you. God knows your pain. Don't give up on Him. Don't despair. Run to Him. Find comfort in Him. He is always there for you. Keep your eyes on Him.

As our friend Mitch McVicker and his mentor Rich Mullins wrote,

I will never doubt His promise
Though I doubt my heart
I doubt my eyes

My Deliverer is coming
My Deliverer is standing by

I want to leave you with this song. The lyrics are a little fuzzy as they were recorded on a cassette player in an old, abandoned country church, only nine days before Rich Mullins died in a car wreck that also nearly took Mitch's life. Just days before his sudden death, Rich recorded a demo tape of the next album he wanted to do. An album that would be all about the life of Jesus. The music was redone, but the vocals in this song are taken from that tape.

Does God Change His Mind?

I have been studying whether God changes his mind. Some Scriptures explicitly teach that He has, yet many Christians seem to want to say that He does not.

This writing at Got Questions sums up what is a dominant strain in Christian thinking:

The Scriptures that describe God apparently “changing His mind” are human attempts to explain the actions of God. God was going to do something, but instead did something else. To us, that sounds like a change. But to God, who is omniscient and sovereign, it is not a change. God always knew what He was going to do. God also knew what He needed to do to cause humanity to do what He wanted them to do. God threatened Nineveh with destruction, knowing that it would cause Nineveh to repent. God threatened Israel with destruction, knowing that Moses would intercede. God does not regret His decisions, but is saddened by some of what humanity does in response to His decisions. God does not change His mind, but rather acts consistently to His Word in response to our actions.

When we take the approach that God does not change His mind, we have developed a theology that prevents us from taking certain passages of Scripture at face value. This theology stems from a specific understanding of the omniscience of God when it comes to the future. A cosmological viewpoint must be held that holds that God exists outside of time and space. In this view, all time-past, present, and future-has already happened. He can just view any point of time and see what happened or, from our perspective, what will someday happen. This cosmological viewpoint is not contained within the Bible, yet is dogmatically held by many. Not being in Scripture does not mean it is automatically wrong, but it also does not make it guaranteed to be right.  It is worth further examination.

Thomas Aquinas developed what seems to be the most prevalent view today. In his view, God stands outside time and can know everything that we do as freewill actors.  Since He knows what we will do "in advance", he knows our actions before they are even conceived and long after they have occurred. The freewill actor's future actions remain unknown to us and others in linear time with us but are logically necessary to God on account of His infallibly accurate all-encompassing view.

I feel inferior and out of place to disagree with a intellectual giant like Thomas Aquinas, but I do not see the biblical evidence to support that view.  Nor do I see biblical situations where having that view would be necessary to understand Scripture. Actually holding the view that God knows everything that will happen creates quite a quandary rather than the security the view hopes to create.

Instead of coming to Scripture and letting the words written there influence our beliefs, we can wrongly come to Scripture with our beliefs and manipulate the words to fit what we already believe. We believe God exists outside of time and space; therefore, he knows every aspect of the future. The Bible is clear that God knows every aspect of the present; however, it is not so clear that the future has already happened in order to be known.

The writer at Got Questions wrote: "God does not change His mind, but rather acts consistently to His Word in response to our actions." It is a nice trick of semantics, but that is not what Scripture says. Scripture explicity states that "God changed His mind".

And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.  Exodus 32:9-19 (ESV)

The New American Standard translates Exodus 32:14 as, "So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people."  The King James goes even a little further:  "And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." 

In this passage in Exodus, we see that Moses prayed and God changed his plan on what He was going to do with the people of Israel. I struggle with what exactly in Moses' speech influenced God to change His mind. I don't think we can say with definite certainty. It was not like Moses told Him something that He did not already know. It appears that God was looking for someone to stand up and worry about His name. Moses' prayer showed His willingness to be the type of man that God desired to use. Moses shared with God an anger toward the actions of the people and a concern for the name of the Lord.  Moses rightly explained that God had linked Himself to these people and His name would be linked to their success or their failure.

The book of Jonah shares another story where God changes His mind.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.
Jonah 3:1-4:5 (ESV)

We see in Jonah a similar story to that of Moses in Exodus.  God has a course of action that He says he is going to take when He says that He is going to destroy Nineveh.  Jonah even prophesied that God was going to destroy them.  But that prophecy was not fulfilled because the Ninevites changed their ways.  God relented from the path He said He was going to take due to repentance.  This did not make Jonah happy, but it does appear that God was happy.

God's course of action was changed because the people changed.

Now we will read the story of God removing the kingship from Saul, the first king of Israel.

The word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.” And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord. Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
1 Sam 15:10-35 (ESV)

The NIV translates 1 Samuel 15:29, "He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind."

The teaching that the Lord does not change his mind is put in the middle of a story where God changed His course of action.  So what is it saying?  We know that God was disappointed in Saul and changed his decision on who would be king of Israel because of Saul's great sin, but then we are told that God does not change His mind.

If we put ourselves in the shoes of the Israelites at this time, we can get a better understanding of what is going on.  The Israelites were living under a theocracy.  God was the one that gave them Saul as king, but then Saul failed to be the holy king that God wanted.  Did God make a mistake in appointing Saul?  Was God vengeful and appointed a king for Israel that would be evil?  Or did Saul not live up to the calling that God had on His life?  I would choose the latter in light of the two passages that we have read from Exodus and Jonah.

So the Scripture in 1 Samuel emphasized that God does not change.  He has a purpose.  He has a will.  Those will never change.  God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  But his actions can change based upon the faithful living of us.  Moses stood up and showed God He could be the leader God wanted, so God changed his mind and relented from punishment.  The Ninevites repented and came back to the Lord, so God changed his mind and relented from punishment.  God is flexible, changing His course of action on the fly to bring about the greatest outcome.  God is not limited, but He has chosen to wait on us to be faithful.  

So God never changes in His nature, but He does change in His actions.

God is the God of hope. He hopes for the best. Despite all likeliness to the contrary, He is filled with hope that each one of us will do what is right. That is what stops Him from intervening at times when we deserve punishment; He is hoping for us to change and be the people He can totally use to bring about His will.  We must remember that His grace covers our constant failings and mistakes (biblically called sin), and He will use us, if we are willing and sometimes even when we are unwilling, to bring about His will.  But He often waits for people to be faithful to transform our neighborhoods, workplaces, and other surroundings into what He has destined it to be.

You may also be interested in God Does Not Know the Future and Change Brings Change but There is an Idea that Keeps Us Chained.