Running from Suffering

"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere." (Ps.84:10)

Earlier this morning I read the following from a devotional: "Waiting on God and abiding in His will is to know Him in 'the fellowship of His sufferings' and 'to be conformed to the likeness of His son.' Therefore if God's desire is to enlarge your capacity for spiritual understanding, do not be frightened by the greater realm of suffering that awaits you."

Normally I would run screaming into the night after reading something like this but the Spirit began to give me perspective. Why run screaming? Where am I running?! How long would I have to run?? Hhmm.

A lot of patients and caregivers I meet each week are running blind, their only goal being to outrun cancer. Fair enough. I run too, just from other things. But for some people, their running has no direction; they're running from something scary, with no idea of what they're running to or what they might gain along the way.

So here's my thought: we have to understand that salvation in itself is more than enough to motivate us to accept suffering and even rejoice in it ... only because all of life is lived in God's presence and under His care. The perfect Creator chose to call us imperfect creations to be His own! The Spirit reminds us: "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere." (Ps.84:10) Put another way, better to suffer knowing I belong to Him than to be carefree and belong to the world. God is so good to care for us, to love us and provide for us every day of our lives — why should we fear?

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