JULY 11, 2016

“We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.” 
― Marcel Proust

PSALM 4-6

David is in the throes of deep anguish...

6I am worn out from my groaning.

All night long I flood my bed with weeping

and drench my couch with tears.

7My eyes grow weak with sorrow;

they fail because of all my foes.

8Away from me, all you who do evil,

for the Lord has heard my weeping.

9The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;

the Lord accepts my prayer.

10All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;

they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

ACTS 16:16-40

Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown in jail and then a miracle happens...

25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

JOURNAL 

Here is the good stuff...to read about David in the throes of anguish and then to see Paul persecuted...wrongly imprisoned and God using it as a means to save the jailer. Wow...I again am just overcome with how God uses suffering and the difficulties of life to bring about good. It is in these moments that I realize that the more I lean into suffering and difficult circumstances the more I am trusting God to deliver me and therefore the greater is my joy and power. 

When I run from those or seek ways to comfort myself instead of fully experiencing them, then I rob myself of experiencing God. I rob myself of the opportunity for God to step in and bless me. This is why addictions are menacing and destroy a person. The addiction is to something that replaces God. Therefore it robs them of true suffering and therefore robs them of the joy of experiencing God. 

24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

 ~ HEBREWS 11:24-26