Thoughts for another day

November 4, 2008.

Today's verse: Jonah 2:7. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Today morning I was reading a book titled, ‘Pain my companion’. For an early morning read, you might wonder what kind of book that might be, because one would rather read an inspirational or a motivating book rather than how a person is constantly in pain. But like the Lord says, ‘your ways are not My ways, your thoughts not My thoughts.’ And even in the midst of pain, there is the discovery of God. Not as an alien, mocking you as you suffer, rather telling you that He is there and is holding your hand. In short, the greatest moment a man can have with God is when he is in pain and in that pain he looks up to God for he is unable to bear it without God.

But now, we will deal with our verse today and as I said before, God is not One who is watching with glee as we suffer. Rather as He tells Paul and us too, ‘My Grace is sufficient for you, for strength is made perfect in weakness.’ And I would like to echo what Jonah says in the above verse, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto Thee, in Thine holy Temple. See, Jonah says that His prayer, when he was weak penetrated the realms of the Holy One and reached His ear. It happened because prayer which comes from the person in pain, whether physical, spiritual or emotional, crushes the barriers between God and us and reaches His ears. And in such prayer is the Almighty delighted and His delight means abundant Grace.

Also, sometimes, we do not understand why we suffer. But our suffering is great and what’s more, we do not see the end of it in the near future. What then are we to do? I’d say, do like Jonah. Let your anguished heart speak to God and pour out your soul to Him your creator. For He is not a man that He will not sympathise with you because you erred in keeping His commandments or you grieved Him, rather, His mercy takes over as a protective cloak over you and out of His eyes flows love, pure unalloyed love that’s bound to make Him raise His hand and let His healing take over.

My friend, even as you suffer, do not leave the hem of God, rather yell out in pain as did Bartimaeus, ‘Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me.’ Very soon the rays of His healing power will reach you and you will be healed. Remember, its never ‘the end’, except when He says it.