Finding Hope in Pain
Apr 07, 2009
Have you ever wanted something so bad you could taste it, you could feel it down in your bones? Have you ever wanted something so badly that you begged God for it, that you longed for it, that it consumed your thoughts day and night? I’m not talking about desire for a toy or a meal or a certain purse or dress or TV. I’m talking about a dream, something in the center of your heart—a career, a relationship, marriage, a child?
Abraham and his wife Sarah (who we meet in Genesis 11-25) certainly knew about that. They held onto their dream, not for months or years but for decades—for decades they longed for and dreamed about the day when they would have a little baby of their own. If you know the story, you know that Abraham was first Abram, meaning ‘exalted father.’ When he met someone, they would always want to know where exalted father’s children were but he would have to respond, “I have none.” You mean your name is exalted father and you don’t have anyone to father? “No, my wife is barren.” For years, his own name, every time it rang in his ears, issued pain and dealt another blow to their dream. Some of you know the pain they felt, the pain of childlessness, the shame of barrenness, the loss of miscarriage—there is little pain like it.
But in Genesis 12 something changed drastically—Abe heard the voice of God and God promised him not just a son but that he would be the father of a great nation. So, God changed his name to Abraham, meaning father of a multitude. And the dream was revived. A glimmer of hope flickered through his heart. You ever had that happen where you thought a dream was dead but then it is reignited by a spark, you thought it was over but then hope returns. That’s what God did for Abe and Sarah. Sure they were already pretty old to be having kids (75 and 65) but it wasn’t completely unheard of, right? It could happen. Fast forward 24 years—Abe and Sarah are still praying for that promised child, the child God promised would make a great nation, the child through whom God promised to bless all the nations. Still praying, but mostly weeping—the dream had been broken again. It seemed that God had again laid waste their dreams—all their lives they had wanted one thing, and God had not delivered. When God reaffirmed His promise, the Bible tells us that Sarah laughed; she laughed in the face of God; she laughed a laugh of sarcasm and cold bitterness; she laughed a laugh of unbelief in the very face of God. Very often God, in His mercy, will lay waste to our smaller and lesser dreams so that He can, in His mercy, give us His bigger and greater dreams. Therefore, all God’s actions toward His children, no matter how painful, are always merciful. Remember, God never only takes; He takes in order to give. He never only empties; He empties in order to fill; He never only tears; He tears in order to mend; He never only removes; He removes in order to bestow. Often the greatest things in our lives are born out of the greatest pain. God loves to bring life from death, joy from weeping, and resurrection from crucifixion. That is what the Easter season is all about.
Such was the case with Abe and Sarah. She laughed in God’s face but God had the last laugh; one year later she gave birth to her first child. They named him Isaac which means laughter. God had turned her laughter of cold, sarcastic bitterness to warm, loving joy. Have you recently felt your heart grow cold or resentment rise up due to a dream laid waste, a desire unfulfilled, a need that has gone unmet, or an injustice not rectified? Maybe you’ve laughed in the very face of God like A & S. I want to encourage you that God loves to bring life from death, joy from bitterness, and laughter from pain. In all of our lives, stripping will come, a time will come where what is most important to us is taken away—our health, our looks, our sex appeal, some relationship, our money, our security, our family, up until our very life. Our world, in and of itself, offers no foundations—God is the only sure foundation. As Tim Keller has said of a working definition of God, “God is the only non-negotiable.” In other words, anything and everything else can be lost in life; there is no other end in life, and there is nothing else so foundational about the universe. He is all that will be left when the moment of stripping comes, and He will be more than enough
