A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book, Hope in the Dark: Believing God Is Good When Life Is Not (p. 61). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
Craig goes on to say, “Love does. An embrace does.”
He goes on, “That’s the beauty and power of the incarnation. God didn’t shout his love from heaven. He showed us his love on earth as he became one of us in the person of his Son Jesus. When someone is in the valley, rather than trying to explain what’s happening, sometimes we are better off listening. Rather than preaching, we focus on loving. And in those moments of quiet presence, God often reveals himself in ways that go beyond our human ability to understand.
“Unless our own suffering draws us closer to God, it’s hard to offer genuine compassion—and hope—to others. When we aren’t connected to others’ pain, it’s tempting instead to offer them bumper sticker platitudes and pat answers designed to keep our own fragile faith intact. Some people even go so far as to tell those who are suffering that it’s because of sin in their lives or because they don’t have enough faith or because they’re simply getting what they deserve. What a terrible, dangerously hurtful, unbiblical response! Nowhere do I see Jesus condemning people who are hurting; I see him only allowing his grace to convict their hearts and convince them of their need.
Craig then says, “Our world is broken. Because we live in a world where our free will has opened the door to our spiritual enemy, we will all continue to experience painfully hard, terrible, unexpected events in our lives. It’s not that growing mature in our faith exempts us from these events. (The opposite might be closer to the truth.) It’s simply that we’ve experienced enough pain and grown so much closer to God—even in spite of our pain—that our faith has been strengthened, deepened, and matured for the next tough time.”
I know, I know, we don’t like the hard stuff. But as Craig said earlier, “But this can become a pivotal moment in your faith journey. This is when you can experience the depth of God’s grace in a way that’s impossible during better moments. His presence is real in your pain. And it might become more real in this valley than it was on the mountaintop if you can recognize that the way is through, not out.”
“His presence is real in your pain.” Have you found that true? Will you reach out with love and an embrace to someone who is hurting? Will you be willing to be his presence to someone? Will you?
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