There May Be Pain In The Night

In today’s society, it is not uncommon to see many people struggle. We see people’s lives turn upside, get stepped on, ran over, or degraded. We see that the pain is something that just keeps growing and growing and growing. From the outside we tend to offer guidance and strength to those who need it. We can offer these things, but never truly understand what is going on in the life of the person until it finally hits.

This past week has not been a pleasent one. From things that have happened to my father’s ministry, to financial issues, to cleaning the house for Christmas, this week has seemed to just keep growing longer and longer. I have had to sit on both the outside and the inside of these struggles in the past week, and having to offer guidance has not been easy. Knowing that people that I love are being hurt or struggling just doesn’t seem easy. It just seems that this storm just doesn’t want to go away.

As I was driving yesterday, heading home from the church that I have the pleasure to serve at, I was thinking about all of the things that had hit my family in the past week. I kept seeing the storm that was brewing, and kept repeating to myself that God has something amazing coming. It was just a little while down the road until I got to see it. I kept repeating this to myself, but my words just seemed to feel empty. I kept searching for understanding in what is going on, and much like the scripture says “But God.” God showed up and gave me an image that has stuck with me. Although the day seemed dreary with the wet and cold climate, overcast for miles, and just dead trees everywhere, God showed up to me. God opened the clouds and brought light. “Pastor Wayne that is normal to see.” I agree, but when the clouds opened the light shown through everything. As the light shown, it grew and took a dreary day and made something beautiful out of it. The warmth of the day showed through and took my doubts away.

As a follower of Christ, sometimes we are dealt a ‘bad hand’ on days. We think that maybe God is just trying to pick on us and push us to our limits. We tend to blame God as though He is the kid with the magnifying glass as we are ants on a hill. What we don’t see is the provision that God is putting in our lives. We don’t remember the amazing things that are happening, but when we do remember the light that comes from that one amazing source grows. In Psalms chapter 30, we find the psalmist praising God for the provision that God has provided. Maybe it is time for us to remember that “there may be Pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning.”