Positive Pain

Hello Beautiful People! I am so happy to be part of a devoted family; I feel love and inclusion every time I see you. It is good to be loved. 

Today I want to discuss “Positive Pain;” I can recall saying the following…

“Why me?” more often than not.  

In my own idealistic deception, I believed that Christian life should be easy because God will keep us from experiencing any pain outside of our pain quota. This is another of Satan’s great deceptions designed to make us doubt who we are in Christ, or more importantly… our assignment. 

As a young child I was always haunted with the concept of good and evil/heaven and hell mentally and physically.  I experienced occurrences when I was held down by unseen forces; I couldn’t move or scream even though I was completely lucid. No matter how hard I rebuked or prayed… these occurrences continued until I received my true baptism in the late 90’s. Because of these haunting, I understand there is another realm outside of the one we see. Although painful, it helped me choose to be a Christian from hard evidence; God allowed these things to happen to me.  Because of this, I deem these frightening occurrences as “positive pain.” 

Many of us experience negative situations, and because there is no immediate relief think that God either did not care, or wasn’t strong enough to fix the problem. We don’t understand that every negative moment, was in fact, orchestrated so that God could be glorified. There are many prominent figures in the bible that can assist with addressing this issue. Today I will focus on David … 

David encountered many obstacles before becoming King David. He was the youngest and, within his own family, deemed unworthy of many things let alone kingship. (Not even considered by His father Jesse when God sent Samuel to anoint the new King from his lot of sons.) Even Samuel the great man of God chose Eliab, David’s older brother. However, David had within him something only the Lord could see… 

"But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his (Eliab’s) appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."  1 Samuel 16:7 

No matter how the outside appearance may look, God looks at the heart of the person and problem..  David would be anointed to be the next King of Israel.  Prior to David’s anointing, the Lord had rejected King Saul because he did not fully execute His order to destroy the Amalekites. Haunted by an evil spirit (sent from the Lord) Saul would employ David to play the lyre for relief. (Not knowing David was anointed next king.) David’s service would give him great favor with Saul… especially after he killed Goliath. Everything that David put his hand to was successful, as a result, the people viewed his skills greater than Saul’s. This caused jealousy to rise up in him… 

“Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops and Saul's officers as well.” 1 Samuel 18 5 

Unfortunately, the good work of David resulted in Saul’s desire to hurt and/or kill him… 

“David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying, "I'll pin David to the wall!" but David eluded him twice." 1 Samuel 18:10:11 

Many of you have had this happen… doing your job well only to have spears hurled at you; I have struggled with this myself. The only thing I can say is examine yourself, and if there is nothing wrong… understand it is for God’s glory. If David would have stayed and continued to give Saul the benefit of his good work… He would have continued to bless Saul through David. God needed to remove David so that He could remove Saul. 

God would continue to bless David where ever he went… But what of the promise of kingship?? Long story short it would not happen overnight. David would continue to run from Saul (whom he did nothing but bless) until Saul's death. (Many Psalms record of the emotional “highs and lows” David endured.)  David would finally get his throne at the appointed time without comprising his beliefs. 

I am happy that David's rise to power was documented, because centuries later we are allowed the opportunity to understand our own plight. As children of the most High God we are anointed into a royal lineage, we will without fail endure pain. But as you can see here… the pain God allowed David to endure would result in him receiving his crown. 

There are many references in the bible where people unjustly suffer… Joseph sold into slavery or lied on by Potiphar’s wife, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart causing the Israelite’s pain and suffering, Job as the object of God’s bragging, and most of most of all the crucifixion of Jesus. Though seemingly momentary to us these people and our Saviour suffered long periods of time so that God could be glorified. 

Centuries later we continue to draw from their experiences, and are strengthened.  Each experience God orchestrated and the sheer definition of “positive pain.” 

Until next time . . . SGUntil next time . . . SG