May 29: Rely on the Lord’s Faithfulness

Dr. Stephen Drake, a professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., would often pray while mentioning the suffering of others, “Father, we are carnal and unable to see your plan. We don’t know any other way to pray than to say ‘God deliver us from our pain.’”

Though he would typically follow that statement with an affirmation of God’s providential love, he echoed what many of us have often felt. While we recognize the benevolence of God’s will and long to submit to His sovereign plan, we stumble to find answers to the question, “Why?” In the process, we may become discouraged, even despondent, over our search for relief.

One author explained it this way: “A man found a cocoon of the emperor moth and took it home to watch it emerge. One day a small opening appeared, and for several hours the moth struggled but couldn’t seem to force its body past a certain point. Deciding something was wrong, the man took scissors and snipped the remaining bit of cocoon. The moth emerged easily, its body large and swollen, the wings small and shriveled. He expected that in a few hours the wings would spread out in their natural beauty, but they did not. Instead of developing into a creature free to fly, the moth spent its life dragging around a swollen body and shriveled wings. The constricting cocoon and the struggle necessary to pass through the tiny opening are God’s way of forcing fluid from the body into the wings. The ‘merciful’ snip was, in reality, cruel. Sometimes the struggle is exactly what we need.”

As we look in the pages of Jeremiah’s “lament,” we begin with Jeremiah’s expression of personal grief over Jerusalem’s downfall (3:19-20). He mourns also for their suffering and future uncertainty. We see in his mourning that it often helps for us to express our pain in order to come to terms with our pain rather than living in denial of our suffering.

But being honest about our situation should cause us to remember the Lord’s persistence in showing us His love (3:21-26). Jeremiah declares God’s love to be faithful and compassionate. In the midst of suffering, he appeals to the Lord’s steadfast love.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Therefore, the believer has the assurance of knowing that nothing escapes the big picture of God’s will for our lives (3:27-33). Every detail is a part of the fabric that is being knitted for His glory.

The fact is that whether our suffering has come as a result of the progression of life marred by the stained influence of sin, or by the disobedience of our own wills, God is merciful in leading us through trial and pain (3:37-39). We can trust God in unexplained suffering, as well as in the effects of our past disobedience, and draw from Him the necessary strength to endure. Alexander Maclaren put it this way, “If God sends us on stony paths, He will provide us with strong shoes.”

Once when comedian Bob Hope received a major award he responded, “I don’t deserve this, but then I have arthritis and I don’t deserve that either.” The fact is that we all go through difficult times. Whether we deserve those struggles or not can be debated, but for the believer, their outcome can be guaranteed. In every situation we can look to God for strength as He sustains us with His everlasting love.