“No
wasted pain, no wasted pain.” I heard my wife whisper that many times when the
pain was nearly unbearable. I found myself calmed by her courage, and came to
believe the truth of Isaiah 43:1-3 because I saw her living it out, even when her
health was at its worst.
We Christians are not spared suffering and heartache, but we have God’s word to interpret our pain and His presence to sustain us through it. That’s what Isaiah 43 has meant to Dionne and me.
We Christians are not spared suffering and heartache, but we have God’s word to interpret our pain and His presence to sustain us through it. That’s what Isaiah 43 has meant to Dionne and me.
Here’s
the passage again, with my own highlights: But now thus says the LORD, he who
created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you
are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the
rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not
be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your
Savior (Isaiah 43:1-3a).
Last
time I spoke of three simple lessons my wife and I learned (and are still learning)
from this ancient prophecy. The first is that we belong to Him. When the flood waters rise or the fires threaten,
courage comes from knowing that we are His, and that He is in control.
Here’s
the second truth: The flood and the fire
are inevitable. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through
the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall
not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. Please notice: it says when
you pass through these hard times, not if.
One of
the lies often told in our society, and sometimes even in the church, is that
God’s highest goal is the comfort and happiness of His children. God is
pictured as an anxious parent, just hovering over the crib of His child. If the
baby cries, He rushes to bring relief.
Certainly
our Father hears our cries. But the truth is, God's highest good is His own glory. Thankfully His plans also include bringing His own children to glory. (I wrote about that here.) But for
reasons that He often keeps to Himself, the process of transforming us into the
image of Jesus involves pain. In this world, Jesus
said, you will have tribulation (John
16:33).
As my
wife says, there is no wasted pain. God allows (or sends) it only when necessary: In this you rejoice, though now for a little
while, if necessary, you have been
grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more
precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to
result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter
1:6-7, my emphasis).
Christians
do go through deep waters, they do
find themselves in the fire of trial and tribulation. Our God intends to shape
all of us into the image of His Son, to make our character sweet and pliable
and pure. Christlikeness sometimes requires suffering.
He never wastes our pain. He watches and measures and plans it, with godliness and glory His goal. You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? (Psalm 56:8)
If you’re wading through the river, if you’re watching the
flames rise higher and hotter, you’re in good company. You’re with Shadrach,
Meschach, and Abednego, thrown into the furnace for righteousness’ sake. Or
Joseph, huddled in prison for resisting an easy path to sin. You're with
Paul, stoned and left for dead for
preaching the gospel. You stand with a great throng of battered heroes (see Hebrews 11).
Best of all, you’re in the company of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was treated like a criminal by His own creation, humiliated and tortured and killed on a lonely hillside outside the city. His suffering was not wasted. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10).
