God Uses Hard Times To Get Your Attention
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.
Psalm 119:71
If difficulties in our lives merely strengthen a prideful reliance on our own human strength and will …
If personal pain becomes our obsession, and relieving it becomes our chief goal in life …
If our troubles serve only to drive us to bitterness and envy and despair …
Then we have squandered a wonderful opportunity to know God better.
C. S. Lewis once wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” In another place Lewis called suffering God’s “severe mercy.”
If you are hurting, stop looking around or looking within yourself for answers. Resist the temptation to become angry and sullen. Instead, consider the fact that God is trying to get your attention. He wants to reveal himself and his truth to you.
This is how suffering becomes a blessing in your life.
GOD’S PROMISE TO ME
• I use suffering to get you focused on what’s true.
MY PRAYER TO GOD
You use suffering in my life to get my attention, Lord. Forgive me for missing the point, for complaining, pouting, and accusing you of being cruel or indifferent. You are wise and good. Suffering is never enjoyable, but it can be profitable in my life if I don’t fight it. Help me to learn the lessons you have for me.