Why pain? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 4:1-3,

"After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of
the Lord. So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of
Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera,
who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred iron
chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years,
they cried to the Lord for help."

The Lord had his plans for Israel. Paul enumerates some of these in
Romans 9:4-5, "Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine
glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and
the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the
human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised!" With
these and other purposes he had for Israel, his agenda precluded
Israel from wandering off as a people to go their own way, at least
very far. With the exercise of their own free will the Lord himself
had given them, coupled with a sinful nature that is universal among
all mankind since that fateful day in the garden of Eden, they
inevitably turned in rebellion from him. Repeatedly. His response was
to intervene and bring them back. Make no mistake about the pain
brought their way by the intervention of the Lord. Here we learn this
king of Canaan had a massively equipped military and the oppression he
brought to Israel was cruel.

Certainly the Lord's intervention had an educational element in it,
pointing to the reality that rebelling against God brings painful
judgment. With the white throne judgment we will all face at the end
of the age, he certainly doesn't want anyone to mistake him to be
without a sense of justice. All who read of Israel's history cannot
miss this point. Additionally, as a practical point, the Lord
intervened in the national life of Israel to insure she would be
useful to his purposes, particularly those mentioned by Paul in Romans
9.

Over and over in the book of Judges we read of Israel's turn to
wickedness and over and over we read of pain, misery and suffering the
Lord brought to Israel. Over and over again we read of Israel turning
back to God as they cried out for deliverance from this pain the Lord
brought their way. Here is another typical example, "Once again the
Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this
evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel... The
Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years...
Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord..." Judges 3:12-15.

God not only has an agenda for Israel, God has an agenda for all
peoples of the world and utilizes a similar strategy. His purpose is
to build his kingdom out of folks who live in this life. It is as if
this world were the obstetrics ward of creation. It is within this
life people are brought into being and from these, all who will
embrace him in faith are born again, into his kingdom. In the Lord's
pursuit of this I am reminded of Paul's observation in Romans 8:20-21,
"The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but
by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation
itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into
the glorious freedom of the children of God." It is when we face the
pain, the frustrations in this life we often reach out to God for help
and deliverance. As we reach, we find him waiting for us with arms
opened wide.

God brings frustration and pain into this life that he might fulfill
what Paul had to say at the Aereopagus in Acts 17:27, "God did this so
that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him,
though he is not far from each one of us."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!



Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com