How to Trust God’s Timing in Your Pain
By Rick Warren
“‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT).
When you’re in pain and you pray and don’t see the answers, should you give up? No. Your job is to keep praying and keep trusting God for the answer, because you know that everything he does and everything he allows in your life, he will use for good. You accept a “No,” a “Slow,” a “Grow,” or a “Go” because you know that God is a good Father, even when you’re in pain.
If a doctor performs surgery on you and cuts you open, that’s going to cause some pain. But if that surgery saves your life, would you say she’s a bad doctor? No, because she just saved your life!
When God doesn’t immediately end your pain, he’s saying to you in that moment, “My grace is sufficient for you, and you can handle a little pain—and even a lot of pain in your life—because I am with you and I am going to use this for your good.”
I’ve had a lot of pain in my life. In fact, almost everything I’ve learned in life, I’ve learned through pain. I’ve learned nothing from pleasure. I’ve learned very little from success. But I’ve learned boatloads through pain. God is more interested in making me a man of God than he is in making me comfortable. And God is more interested in making you a man or woman of God than he is in making you comfortable in the short-term. You will be comfortable for all of eternity in heaven.
In Scripture, we read, “‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT).
While you’re praying at one level, God is thinking about your life at a much higher level and from a much bigger perspective. He wants good for your life even more than you do.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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