In which you are exulting, briefly as present, if it must be, being sorrowed by various trials, that the testing of your faith, much more precious than gold which is perishing, yet, being tested by fire, may be found for applause and glory and honor at the unveiling of Jesus Christ
Peter to the Dispersion (1) 6-7, Concordant New Testament
Have you ever felt as if God was distant from you? I have. Before my mother passed away I made it my practice to lift her up in prayers that the Lord would relieve her pain and heal her from her suffering. Then came the night that I was informed that my mother had passed away. As I made the final arrangements after her passing I became aware of something I had never experienced up until that point. I was angry with God. Yes, I was angry with Him because I had been taught that if I were to pray for something that God would honor my prayer {Lukes Account 11:9-10, First Epistle of John 5:15}. This has been the teaching of the church over thousands of years. But what happens when our prayers go unanswered? This was the situation that I found myself in as I mourned the passing of my mother. It seemed that God had turned His back on me and ignored my prayers for her. Or had He? In my mind, that is what happened. Of course, I was only seeing things from my own perspective of grief. It took awhile, but I eventually came to realize that my assumption about God had been wrong. Not long after the passing of my mom it was revealed to me that God had indeed honored my prayers for my mom. This only happened when I not only came to see my life in the Father, but seeing Him through the perspective of my own pain. For through the pain of my grief, the Father revealed unto me that He had indeed answered my prayers for my mother, but not in the way I was expecting to see Him work. For my mother was no longer hurting, and she no longer felt the effects of her illness. Isn't that what I had been praying for? How is it that I could be angry with God for relieving my mother of the pain she endured for so long? Easy, I was not seeing my situation through the lens of God. I was not seeing God through the lens of His love for us {First Epistle of John 4:8}. My thoughts had been focused on my mom and the pain which I was enduring. As I have learned, our life is in Him even through our pain.
I didn't know it a the time, but the passing of my mother opened the door for me for a greater knowing of my life in the Father. Was God using this circumstance in order that I would grow in my knowledge of Him? It's entirely possible. I can only confess that up until that point my own knowing of God was based on what I had learned while growing up in the Christian church. That being said, the teachings of the church never brought me closer to knowing who I am in the Father. I believe that seeing God through our own suffering requires looking beyond our own circumstances to see things from the Fathers perspective. By this I mean seeing ourselves and the world around us in the way which God looks upon us. How is it that He sees me? How is it that He looks upon you? Does He see you as simply a sinner, or are you far more loved that that? Indeed, He loved us enough to dispatch His only Son to bear that sin penalty for us {Johns Account 3:16-17}. He loved us enough to create us in His own likeness {Genesis 1:27}. THIS is how God sees me. This is how He looks upon His children. That He will be "Brushing away every tear from their eyes" {The Unveiling of Christ Jesus 21:4}. This raises the question among many Christians and non Christians alike, does God use difficult situations in our lives in a wicked and vengeful way? No! That goes against His true love nature. Will He use difficulties to establish His will and desire for our lives? Absolutely. I believe that He used the grief I felt at my mothers passing in a positive way that I would come to know my life in Him. That being said, I also believe that if we look past our own pain that we will ultimately see His desires for us.
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of pitties and the God of all consolation, Who is consoling us in our every affliction to enable us to be consoling those in every affliction through the consolation with which we ourselves are being consoled by God
Paul to the Corinthians (2) 1: 3-4, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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