C.S. Lewis said, ‘God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ It was in the furnace of affliction that the psalmist David said, ‘Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I trust your commands. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good’ (Psalm 119:66-68 NIV). But you don’t get to that place of submission easily or overnight. It takes time, some kicking and screaming, and a few skid marks on the pavement where you dug in your heels and resisted! God told Isaiah to prophesy, ‘I have refined you…I have tested you in the furnace of affliction…for my own sake’ (Isaiah 48:10-11 NIV). Suffering is a lonely experience; it’s not something you would choose. The poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox reminds us, ‘There is room in the halls of pleasure for a large and lordly train, but one by one we must all file on through the narrow aisles of pain.’ Nevertheless, the Bible says, ‘To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps’ (1 Peter 2:21 NIV). There is no easy way to become like Jesus; it involves discomfort and pain. But the good news is, you’re not in the fire alone. God’s hand is controlling the thermostat. And He knows exactly how much heat it will take to bring you to the place where you can say, ‘You are good, and what you do is good.’ You may not be there yet, but you’re getting closer.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.