Answer this multiple choice question:
“What is the quickest way to gain your attention?”
a. Someone softly speaking.
b. A hand on the shoulder.
c. Someone waving.
d. A punch in the arm.
I would argue that a punch in the arm will gain our attention the quickest. Often times we are in our own little world, headphones in our ears, or cell phone consuming our attention that none of the first three choices affect us or gain our attention, like a punch in the arm!
C.S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains- it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
As I’m preaching through the book of Job, I’m realizing the validity and truth behind this quote in an ever-increasing way. We all face hurts, sorrow and suffering in this world. Where do we turn for answers? Where do we turn for comfort?
As I read about these huge disasters that have rocked our world these past couple years, there are some amazing God-stories that rise from the ashes. As I talk with people who went through serious heartaches and deep sorrow, God emerges as the hero. As I experience trauma in my own life, I see the fingerprints of God as He is at work through the trials and suffering in my life.
Psalm 76:23 says “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Perhaps you just experienced a punch in the arm. Maybe your arm is bruised from all the punches! The question for you today is “Do you trust God?” “Is God your strength and your portion?”
The longer I live, the more I see God using the megaphone of pain to get my attention. In each and every ‘disaster’, God is at work. Do you see Him?
Just a thought for this morning.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18