You Will Have Trouble...

Ken is a trained counsellor

John 16:33 (NIV)—

‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ 

A few weeks ago, I picked up a book by Larry Crabb* that I hadn’t read for a number of years. I got a bit of a shock when he wrote that, as Christians, in this world, we will hurt. He talks about life experiences that affect us and says that we will, for the most part, suffer the same circumstances as other people. Although I think I did know this, it struck me that we can get lulled into believing that, as Christians, with God looking after us, we will be protected and can expect a relatively comfortable life; then we struggle when this isn’t the case.

Larry Crabb’s main point, however, is that we are not very good at facing up to and dealing with pain and that our denial or failure to acknowledge it can hinder our Christian development and relationships. Over the next few days, we will look a little more at hurt and pain and how it affects us,

Think for a moment of Bible characters who went through difficult situations. The list includes pretty well all the heroes of our faith - in fact it’s difficult to come up with a prominent character who had a relatively easy time! In the New Testament Paul, is very open about his own difficult experiences and feelings:

‘afflicted….perplexed ……persecuted…….struck down ……..always carrying in the body the dying of Jesus……delivered over to death ….’ (2 Corinthians 4:7-11. Also ch1:8, ch2:4).

In other passages, he lists some horrific experiences (2 Corinthians 6:4-5; 2 Corinthians 11:23-28) and although some are clearly from persecution, others are life experiences in dangerous situations. How Paul faced and coped with these pressures is very revealing and instructive.

Prayer - Dear Lord, there are many things we don’t understand but we know that you walk with us and that we can trust you. Help us to face up to the hurt and pain we feel and allow it to accomplish your good purpose in our lives.

*Dr. Larry Crabb, Inside Out, (1990, Amersham-on-the-Hill, Scripture Press).