“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
Pain is a real thing.
While pain itself may not exclaim His absence, the lack of deliverance from the pain often does. Have you ever spent time in desperate prayer asking for the pain to go away? And when you realize the pain still exists, do you not wonder where God has gone or if He’s really listening? Have you ever endured the pain of consequences only to experience little relief from prayer? Have you ever experienced the pain of losing something or someone most dear and still, years later, continue to experience that pain? In the midst of continual pain, have you ever cried out in righteous anger from the hurt to tell God how much He can’t possibly know the depths of your pain?
Pain is a real thing.
It sounds a bit cliche but God knows – with full understanding – the depths of pain. He understands loss, He understands betrayal, He gets the pain of standing firm in the midst of temptation, He understands losing a best-friend, He relates with the unpopular — He knows how it feels to doubt God in the midst of pain!
But doubt isn’t the loss of faith! Faith comes through knowing that which is unseen and Christ knew all unseen! The doubt of His Father’s presence on the cross drew Him closer to the Father in faith of the Truth of His promises!
Yes, pain is a real thing and God is not absent in our pain! He is ever-so present in fact! Remember, He is our great Comforter, Healer and Friend! Not a moment goes by, painless or painful, that God is not wrapped around us as a cloak of glory!
. . . because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ Hebrews 13:5-6
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