[Discoveries] 05-10-08 Do not be afraid -- Revelation 2:10

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

/*Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. -- Revelation 2:10*/

I admit to you that I have a problem with suffering. It is much on my 
mind that my brothers and sisters suffer pain beyond description and 
beyond belief. I hate pain, and I hurt for them. It bugs me that so 
little is said about the suffering of God's children. Perhaps others are 
thinking about it just as I am, but, like me, don't exactly have the 
words to talk about the struggle they feel inside.

I can't quite get my mind and my heart around the evil that exists that 
brings so much pain. When I try, it seems inside that this evil eclipses 
the light of God's goodness.

Suffering is one of those areas where we can't go it alone. Apart from 
Christ, suffering will destroy us.

But here in this passage, the Lord speaks. He speaks with authority I do 
not have. He speaks as One who has suffered. He speaks as the One who 
walks with each child of God who suffers. He speaks as the One who has 
seen the other side, who shares His home with those whose suffering has 
ended. He speaks as One who sees what we cannot see.

The One who has triumphed over suffering is extending peace to His 
people. How does that work? In prison, in beatings, in the cancer ward, 
I don't know. I haven't been there. In other places of pain and sorrow 
and humiliation, I do know, because I have been there. Every time it's 
the same. When you reach the place you don't want to go, Jesus is there. 
Did the pain go away? Not always, but somehow it just doesn't feel the 
same. One greater than pain is here.

Be encouraged!
Dwight

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