Apr 16 - "Praising The Pain"

“By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered you, O Zion. As for our harps, we hung them up on the trees in the midst of that land. For those who led us away captive asked us for a song, and our oppressors called for mirth: ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’ How shall we sing the LORD’s song upon an alien soil?” --- Psalm 137:1-6

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It is really hard to remain positive in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Today’s Psalm was written (or looks back) on the time when the Israelites had been taken from their land and were in captivity. Although Jeremiah prophesied for 50-plus chapters that things were not going to go well if the Jews did not turn from their evil ways, they did not and were taken into captivity. Their captors ask them to sing a song, to play happily, but the people are not able to do so because of the pain and loss they are feeling at this time.

Don’t we feel that way sometimes? I know when I am in the middle of a rough patch (we all have them), it is hard to think about praising God for the gifts that still are coming, even in the midst of tough times. We have trouble seeing them, remembering what it feels like to be joyful. When we are really sick with a bad flu or have pain from some injury, it is hard to remember how it felt to be free from sickness or released from the pain.

Yet, the time when we need to be thankful, when we need to relish in the opportunities for learning and growth, are when these hard times occur. If I am honest with myself, I know that the tough times I had prepared me for something for which I needed strength. Can you imagine how differently the pain would feel, if we were thankful for it? Seems weird, but somehow it also makes sense. I pray to remember this when things are tough.

There is a Jewish prayer that says something like, “When it is raining, we pray for rain.” I love the deeper meaning that can be associated with this simple phrase. It recognizes that even when things are not working out the way we want them to, we need to be thankful for what that particular situation may be bringing to us, in the form of a blessing.

So, when those tough times come, when you are in pain, praise the pain. Orient your heart and your spirit to the blessing which the hardship may bring. Realize that these struggles bring growth and that, just as silver and gold must be refined in the heat of the crucible in order to be pure and shine, you also will be made bright and new after the pain has passed.