Pain Is Never Wasted

All around the world we are hearing of pain, turmoil, hurt every single day. Over the past month I've had many friends face excruciating pain, hurt, confusion, betrayal, and more personally. It's hard to see. It's hard to understand. It's hard to wrap my mind around. But there's something that I'm learning to understand about all of this. It's an old phrase I've heard pastor's say time after time, but it's ringing true in my young ears. "God never wastes pain."

That statement never really made sense or sounded like a loving God to me, until recently. I've had a friend lose the life of his son, another lose a family member, a pastor friend face extreme betrayal within his church, and another that can't see past his physical pain and need for medication just to make it through the day...all within the past 3-4 weeks. And what that has shown me is 2 major things: 1 - Pastor's are NORMAL people that experience DEEP HURT and pain! 2 - God never wastes pain!

Psalms 23 is a famous scripture when discussing pain and turmoil in our lives.
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me..." (1-4)
The rest goes on to say that He will prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies...

Here's where that teaches me something...
In order for me to lie down in green pastures...(which sounds really relaxing)
In order for me to walk beside quiet waters... (which would be a great break from screaming kids!)
In order for my soul to be restored... (back to a state of original being)
In order for Him to guide me in paths of righteousness...
In order for His rod & staff to comfort me...
In order for me not to fear anything...
In order for Him to prepare a table, a feast, for me in the presence of my haters...(eating the best food possible...maybe Zesto's, or Polliwog's, or how about Olive Garden!?)
All for His name's sake...
Something else must take place first...
I MUST walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
This is not a fun truth, but it is a truth of hope, promise, and oddly of peace.

See, I may walk through the valley of death. I may walk through difficulties, hurts, pains, confusion, misunderstandings, and more... but in order for me to know Jesus as my comforter, my preparer, my tour guide of still waters, and my shepherd of the greenest grass. In order for me to be guided in ways of growth and prosperity; in order for comfort to mean something to me, in order for me to enjoy my meal at my table... I must first learn what it means to need and want all of those things! And sometimes the darkness of the shadow, the stink of death, the stink of loneliness, and the hurt of fear is the way we can really accept, own, and love that Jesus can and will be all of these things for us...and more!

So, here's what I'm learning. No...I don't believe God makes these things happen to us always. But I do believe that when things happen to us, God doesn't waste it, He uses it! He takes the leftovers from a dinner of hurt and He prepares them into a beautiful spread of growth, love, comfort, peace, and honor. And because of that I know the fact that He "...will never leave us, nor forsake us." And for that...I'm eternally grateful!