Embracing the Pain - Your Nightly Prayer
Embracing the Pain
Your Nightly Prayer for Feb. 25, 2025
by Meg Bucher
TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE
“If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.” - 2 Corinthians 12:6-7 NLT
SOMETHING TO PONDER
If this was the pain level I had to endure every day to continue running, am I OK with that?
If it never gets any better, but it doesn’t get any worse, am I alright going this pace and no faster?
These are the conversations I have with my mid-life self as I run …ok, jog …on a beautiful snow-covered trail on a sunny January day. That alone is something I might not have been able to find beauty in just a year ago as I jetted off to “check on” my parents in Florida once a month. A year can flip one’s perspective on its proverbial behind.
Paul knew about this negotiation with pain. We’re never told what Paul’s ‘thorn’ is and the theories abound to take an educated guess. But God, in His genius, is communicating to us the source of the pain isn’t the point. It’s our conversation with it.
Do we understand that life will be painful, and are we willing to give it our best shot despite it? Pain isn’t just physical; it’s also injustice and heartbreak, I believe. Anything beyond our power to budge qualifies as a thorn we have to wrap our minds around.
It’s easy to “give it to God” when it’s not debilitating. But when it’s hard, it’s a little harder to keep running …jogging …along the snowy trail and choose to see a beautiful January day. If Paul can write the most beautiful God-inspired words in the circumstances he found himself in, we, too, can have a conversation with our pain and look to our God – who isn’t shocked by it …but ready to lead us through it.
YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER
God,
Pain is tough for us to negotiate with. It always feels hopeless and unfair, even when we understand why it’s happening. Help us to process our pain through the wisdom of Your Word, not the logic of the world. Take our hand, Jesus, and walk us through it. Help us to see the beauty in each day despite the fallen state of the world and the reality of pain on this side of heaven.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
THREE THINGS TO PONDER UPON
1. What pain is frustrating you today? What is it keeping you from doing …enjoying …accomplishing? Take it right to the feet of the Father and talk to Him about it plainly and honestly.
2. Look beyond the pain. What have, or can you accomplish ..enjoy ..and do despite it? Embrace the reality of pain in this world, and ask God to help you – by the power of His Holy Spirit – stop fixating on the pain and instead focus on what He is calling you to do next.
3. Pain is a distraction. In Revelation, John reminds us that one day, pain will cease to exist. Relish and rejoice in that fact! It’s temporary. And we’re all going through it. Fix your eyes on Jesus today, and know that He understands and is always with you.
Photo Credit: Pexels/its me neosiam
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