Pain & Bruises.

As we run through the race that is marked out for us in our life and reach our ultimate goal which is Jesus, we have the "human tendency" to stop or pause. There are several things which cause us to stop running in the race. Oftentimes, we stop because we fix our eyes on another so called "goal". Our gaze is not perfectly fixed on the ultimate goal that can lead us to running towards a wrong path. Sometimes, we stop because we trip off. Then we get bruises. We fix our eyes on the bruises that we get. What we don't realize is we should just keep running, and all the more that we don't focus on the bruises, but surrender it all to Him and just let the Mighty Healer heal it. Then we realize that He heals in the most perfect way possible.

Let me focus on us getting tripped off and having bruises. Let me make this simple. When we are walking or running and we are not watching our steps, our tendency is to trip off, most especially when we don't have the right balance. In this race of life, we always tend to get out of focus because of some situations or decisions. The next thing after getting in the wrong situation or making the wrong decision is the pain of being disappointed, or seeing that we did not do the right thing. What we do is we try to heal all the bruises which eventually causes us so much pain. We exert efforts that we think can heal all the pain and remove the scars. But, what we don't realize is that, we still hurt ourselves in the process of trying to heal all the bruises alone. We don't recognize that we need someone who can heal the pain. The One who won't just heal all the pain, but will eventually take all the pain away and will not even leave a scar. But because we are not perfect beings ,we really have this tendency to get hurt.

 Pain is a part of the race. 

As I was reading "The Problem of Pain" by CS Lewis these past few days,  it helped me understand the purpose of pain in our life and how it is a part of the race that we are running in to. Pain is given to us for us to realize the need of a total surrender to God. Quoted from CS Lewis, "But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth with the fortress of a rebel soul.... The full acting out of the self's surrender to God therefore demands pain: this action, to be perfect, must be done in the pure will to obey, in the absence, or in the teeth, of inclination." 

Pain is therefore one way of God telling us to surrender and give it all to Him. When we finally realize that a full, total obedience and surrender can actually heal the pain. Pain leads us to repentance, and repentance leads us to God.  

Whatever you are experiencing at the moment, I pray and hope that you will find God in your brokenness. Remember that God is close to the broken hearted (Psalm 34:18) and that when we recognize that He is the Lord in this kinds of times, he will surely deliver us from it. Remember that He already died for us and all these things that you are experiencing is just something that God uses to teach us some important things that we should know in life. Surrender and obey. Remember, the pain will be worth it. :)

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. 

(Psalm 51:17)