Pain Isn’t Permanent

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit.”

Psalm 34:18(NIV)

This one is for the person who feels like God has walked off and left you.

It doesn’t last forever.

Pain is not permanent. It might feel like it is right now. But according to the steady and stable Word of God, we are promised that it’s not.

“…weeping may remain for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5(NIV)

The point of this post is not to tell you that your pain shouldn’t hurt. Pain is real. Hurt is strong. Trust me, I know. No one gets to escape a life well lived without a fair share of it. You don’t have to pretend like it isn’t real. God is not rushing you through it.

He is sitting up with you at night in the midst of your weeping, catching your tears.

“You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.” Psalm 56:8 (MSG)

But I hope you catch this next part- just because this pain feels too big for you to ever get over, doesn’t mean it’s too big for God. There is a scripture in the Bible, actually a lot of them, but I’m going to point you to this one. It tells me that resolving my pain is not my job.

“You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I’m about to burst with song; I can’t keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can’t thank you enough.” Psalm 30:11-12(MSG)

God did it. Not me, not you. It doesn’t say whatever hurt you magically disappeared or didn’t happen. It doesn’t say the person that wronged you changed, it doesn’t tell us that we forgot what happened.

It just says that God is going to do what God does best. He is going to be present, and close, and faithful through the night. Then at daybreak, His mercy and goodness are going to consume your life in a new way that brings new revelation of how close He has been.

At the end of that verse, it does tell me what my part of it all is- to praise and give thanks. You can do that now. In the night.

I know that sounds ridiculous. And honestly, I say this from experience, it might even hurt more to offer praise in your pain. Can I tell you a little secret? It actually made me angry.

Like I am supposed to thank God, when He watched my world fall apart?!

Is that statement ringing any bells?

But here’s the thing, God is going to be faithful to His Word whether you worship or not. But I PROMISE you, when it is morning time for you, and you can see clearer, you are going to sob when you see how faithful He was through the night. You’re going to wish you worshipped Him then, when He was closer than He’d ever been, even though you couldn’t see it.

I remember going through one of the absolute worst and hardest storms in my life. With tears choking me, I barely breathed out the song, “God is good.” It seemed like it hurt more to say the words because they didn’t feel true. But I did. Because I’ve heard my Pastor say all my life that you practice worshipping God when things are good, so that when trouble comes you know to do what you’ve always done.

And in that moment of pain and praise God spoke to me. He said, “This too shall pass. But what you do in this moment, is eternal.”

I look back at that moment, and remember all the hurt and fear. Yet now, the memory looks beautiful. Because I can see my Father sitting right there with me. Holding me. Hearing me. We shared a heavenly moment, where my faith grew, and I drew closer to the Lord.

And you know what? That time did pass, God was faithful. He was worthy of my praise. Just like He’s worthy of yours now.

Whether it feels like it or not is not the point. He is. He always is.

I just want to encourage you today to not believe the lie that this is going to be how it is from now on. I want to encourage you not to give up. Fight the good fight. You are not alone. You have not been abandoned. I don’t know why certain things happen, but I know that when we stand before the Lord, it won’t matter why. We’ll see that God was never the bad guy. It was never His fault. It was never His plan for you to get broken. But we will also see that redemption of what was lost is His specialty.

God is with us.

Remind yourself of that today.

We have a friend in Jesus.

Be Blessed!

Advertisement