The Cup of Suffering and Your Moment of Victory

Jacob leaned on his staff and praised God.

This is how the book of Hebrews remembered him.

Not by the feats he accomplished in his time on earth but by his praise to God as he underwent a debilitating pain that kept him from walking without a limp.

I often wonder to myself why God would allow chronic pain or disease. I know the answers we give but sometimes the cookie-cutter theological words cannot give one the solace they need amid the trial. Job himself was being lectured by a thousand different “correct” answers yet when all was restored to him it was not Job who was rebuked harshly but rather those who came to correct Job and tell him it was all his fault that he was in anguish. Sometimes there is no real answer that will be the balm for our wounded souls.

Maybe that is the point.

Chronic pain whether through some traumatic experience in your life, psychological, physical, or spiritual can be a burden that feels too heavy. Why me, Oh Lord?

Perhaps Christ himself thought that same thing when looking directly at the cross before Him. He was being asked by God to drink a cup of suffering unlike any had seen. But this was His destiny, the burden he must bear. What kept Him going, was the joy set before Him.

Is it something I did wrong? Do I not have enough faith to see this resolved swiftly?

Perhaps these are sometimes the wrong questions to be asking ourselves.

What if there is no answer at the moment and the only thing we can do is lean on our walking stick (our faith) and CHOOSE to praise God in that unknown feeling?

This is what the writers of Hebrews saw as Jacob’s most pivotal moment.

His praise inside the suffering.

I suppose I’m writing this for myself than any other, as a reminder.

Don’t miss out on your moment with God in the pain.

When you drink that cup of suffering with Christ, you share in something special that cannot be undervalued. You go down to that low place, the place of humility, and become like Him in the small ways that matter.

Paul, the writer of two-thirds of the New Testament, knew this more than most. He specifically asked God to take away the thorn in his flesh that was weighing him down. As a constant target for persecution, he must have had stones thrown at him, beatings every month, and insults aplenty. Yet, God told him that He would not take this burden away. Whatever the thorn was to Paul, whether a spiritual or physical pain, God foresaw that He could use that weakness to propel His purposes even further. That could not have been an easy thing for the Apostle to hear.

But he continued because where else could he go? He was sold out to God already.

At some point, we have to make our choice.

Like Peter once said, Where else will we go?

Maybe no one will notice on this side of eternity.

It could be the smallest thing.

A day when you feel like the pain is too much, you look up from your lowly position and decide to thank God in a way that confounds the heavens.

There is no answer within the turbulence.

In the silence, faith ascends any need for an answer.

You no longer rely on circumstances. You become a rock of faith that others can glean from and heaven can celebrate.

Remembered not by man but by God.

Lean into the limp. Whatever it is today and decide to thank Him.

Believe in healing, resolution, and victory.

But don’t miss the opportunity within the firey test.

This is your moment.

Your moment of victory can be simply choosing to praise God within the pain.

Your greatest moment in life can be something that no one will ever know.

Just you and God. Living in the mystery together.

Limping together into the annals of faith.

Thank you for reading.

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