Raise Your Hand If You Like Pain

“Drink from God’s spring in the valley so that you can be His voice on the mountain.” – Os Hillman

Here is an exhaustive list of people who enjoy pain:

As you can imagine, I could have left the rest of the page blank, because no one I know likes to experience physical, emotional, or any other kind of pain. It simply isn’t fun… and we can’t wait until it is over.

And yet, pain is one of our greatest teachers. It is also one of the tools that God uses to bring us to the end of ourselves and to draw us to a greater dependence on – and a closer walk with – Him.

It is during times of intense pain that we cry out to God in desperation because we have nowhere else to turn. And guess what? He hears and answers us every time we do.

If only we would learn to cry out to Him just as earnestly during times of pleasure and plenty.

Here are a few additional words of wisdom on this particular subject from Os Hillman, the founder of Marketplace Leaders…

“Faith lived out in the ordinary mundane days of life is the reality that speaks to others who have yet to discover God and His love. Spiritual selfishness can drive you to desire only those times on the mountain. Life is not about avoiding pain or crisis; it’s about appropriating God’s grace in every circumstance of life. Beware of living for the next spiritual high; discover God and all He has for you in the valley. The work He does in you there will carry you through unstable times and give you a message for those around you.”

And so, my friend, the next time you stub your toe, flunk a test, lose your job, or suffer some other setback – big or small – try leaning on God and learning the lesson He is trying to teach you in the midst of it. In other words, don’t waste your pain or wallow in it.

“In my distress I cried to the LORD, And He heard me.” Psalm 120:1 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President