A NOBLE RESPONSE TO PAIN

No one in the Bible seemed better acquainted with pain than King David. In psalm after psalm, we find this son of Jesse struggling with emotional stresses. His kingdom was often in peril with attacks from sons, generals, and the very citizens of Israel. There were seasons when it seemed as though everywhere David turned, there was strife.

Few in this world are as honest about their pain as King David was. Consider for example, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and Thou dost lay me in the dust of death” (Psalm 22:14-15, NASB).

Ever feel like that?

I wish there was an easy out, a quick fix for pain, but on the whole there are none. Yes, there are miracles that inject themselves into our world, but they are far and few between, the purview of the King of kings and his omniscient will. We may want God to remove our pain, but what if there is something the Lord wants us to learn from it, some treasure that would be missed by its elimination? Which is more important: feeling good or being faithful?

A. W. Tozer wrote: “We know that the emotional life is a proper and noble part of our total personality. But by its very nature, it is of secondary importance, for religion lies in the will, and so does righteousness. God never intended that such a being as mankind should become the mere plaything of his or her feelings.”

Jim Gorrell, a pastor friend of mine once said, “The real question about pain is, ‘How well do we suffer?’” That stopped me in my tracks and I have pondered it ever since.

Suffering is not a popular position in which to be – but it is a realistic one. Rev. Gorrell’s question offers no fix, and it does not make the problem go away, but it does shake the foundations of how you perceive and can deal with pain.

How well do you suffer?

David’s noble response to pain was to speak his heart and then praise God. His enemies were still at the door. His son was still usurping the crown. His people still railed against him. But David, a man after God’s own heart, knew the appropriate and righteous response to private pain – praise and worship. The book of Psalms is replete with example after example.

Now that you know the biblical response . . . what is your noble response?

“The noble man makes noble plans and by noble plans he stands”

WHAT WAS YOUR DEFINING MOMENT?

"Whoso Pulleth Out the Sword of the Stone and Anvil,
is Rightwise King Born of All England."
(T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone)

Our films and books are rife with defining moments, that moment in time when one reality passes and something new emerges. For Bruce Wayne, it was the death of his parents that transformed him into the Batman. For Gandalf, the wizard in Tolkein’s classic The Lord of the Rings, it was standing toe-to-toe with the maleficent Balrog, when he changed from “the Grey,” to “the White.” For the youngest son in the line of Jesse, it was picking up five smooth stones to fell the great giant Goliath.

But perhaps no defining moment has been told and re-told, as many times as King Arthur, when he drew the sword from the stone. In the span of a heartbeat he went from being a commoner to High King of all England, and whether fact or fiction, the legend set in stone the ideal and noble standard for all of Western civilization.

Many of you have had defining moments. Character transformations born out of grief, abuse, and trauma, and those events forever shaped who you are today. They color every relationship in your life.

Let me ask this . . . when did you pull your sword from the stone? By that I mean, when did you take hold of your destiny as heir to the Throne of the Most High King and become an “heir according to promise” (Gal 3:29)? Was there that defining moment in your life when you turned it all over to the Messiah of Israel – the anointed One – and became not just a citizen of the everlasting kingdom, but an inheritor, a prince or a princess?

My friends, there could be no more noble plan than that, no intention more meaningful or delightful, ripe with promise and Providence! If you look back on your life and see a hurtful moment that forged who you are today, then you have not yet pulled your sword from the stone.

"The noble man devises noble plans and by noble plans he stands."