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 The Whole World Plays Hurt
How Can God Be Good if He Allows All This Evil?
What is God Doing While We Suffer?
Pain: God’s Bullhorn
Refined Like Silver
Exemplary Suffering
God Has a Better Idea
God Has Scars Too
Comfort for Julie
God Wants to Comfort You
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Why Do Bad Things Happen?
Pain: God’s Bullhorn
When troubles oppress us, often we ask ourselves, “Is God punishing me?” We hunt for the exact sin that might have caused our present problems. However, in most cases it would be more beneficial to ask: “Is God warning me?” You see, sometimes God allows us to endure troubles in order to warn us of the foolishness of living without Him and to call us back to Him.
Jeff and Reid were university students who stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. When the police started to catch on to their activities, Jeff moved to another city where he became a drug dealer. Eventually Jeff became an addict himself, experiencing uncontrollable drug flashbacks and hallucinations. After three years, Jeff moved back and hoped to team up with Reid again, only to discover that Reid had become a follower of Jesus Christ. For a couple years, Jeff mocked Reid incessantly, hoping he would revert to his old ways. Instead, Reid held his ground and often told Jeff that Jesus could help him too.
Although Jeff didn’t want anything to do with religion, he found an honest job and hoped to forget his sordid past, but nightmarish drug recurrences plagued him. Finally one night as Jeff lay awake at 3 AM with his mind tormented by drug flashbacks, he decided to take his own life. But as he went to the kitchen to get a knife, he suddenly recalled that Reid had claimed that Jesus could help him. Even though Jeff did not really know who Jesus was, he shouted in desperation, “Jesus, help me!” A warm glow filled him and he fell sound asleep. The next day he began to read the Bible, and within the week Jeff came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
Were Jeff’s drug flashbacks simply a punishment, as though God were yelling at him, “Take that, you lousy drug pusher!”? No, the Lord had a much nobler purpose in mind. He was allowing Jeff to experience such agony, so he would seek Him and discover how much God loves him. As long as things are going well, we rest contentedly in our rebellion and foolishness, but pain demands our attention. To paraphrase what C.S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain: God whispers to us through our pleasures, speaks through our conscience, but shouts by means of our pain. Pain is God’s bullhorn to rouse a deaf world.
So, when you consider your personal trials, don’t ask yourself, “Is God punishing me?” Instead ask, “Is the Lord warning and calling me—as He called Jeff—to humbly turn to Him and receive His kindness and love?” Our afflictions have a purpose. Often God uses pain as a bullhorn to arouse a deaf world. Are you listening?
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