God Screams!

Daniel Ritchie, desiringGod, Jan. 16, 2017

 “C. S. Lewis had tasted pain in ways that few can relate to. He lost his mother at an early age, saw his dad emotionally abandon him, suffered from a respiratory illness as a teenager, fought and was wounded in World War I, and finally had to bury his beloved wife. Through all of this, Lewis wrote about all of his heartache in his work The Problem of Pain.

In this work, Lewis penned one of his most famous lines:

Pain insists upon being attended to. 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.

We are most keenly aware of God’s character in our suffering. It is when our self-sufficiency is peeled away that we see how weak we really are.”

PK now:

My spin on this famous statement is this…
God whispers in the good times.
God speaks in the troubles of others.
God screams in my pain.

When life is as “it should be” God’s words are soft.  When the sun is bright and warm, the flowers and bees are busy, the wind is a gentle breeze and the temp a perfect 75, God’s speech is quieted.  When the neighbors are doing well, the economy is moving in the right direction, Washington is working and kind and the world is pretty calm – at least as much as I know – God’s words are gentle.

Yet in those good times, God is speaking… “I am sovereign, I hold all things together, I am blessing you.”

In happy times, God is telling me to be alert, sober, watching, obedient and fearful (I Peter 1:13-17) as He does everyday!  But as all is good: God’s voice is often but a whisper.

And when there is a crisis in the Ukraine and reports of civilian casualties, Washington is in another impasse, there was another mass killing in the country, and my neighbor lost his job – God’s call to be alert, sober, watching, obedient and fearful – is heard.  His words are clearly audible.

But – BUT, if I have discovered a lump, my child was hit and killed by a wayward car or I have just been sued for millions for an accident, I find God SCREAMING!

The point?  God allows, limits and uses pain to make me focus upward.  God uses pain as a bull-horn to cause me to rethink my position of life.  Is it my life or His?  Are they my vision and goals or His?  Is it my retirement or vacation or weekend?  Is it my agenda?  Who is God – me or He?  And what about that secret sin life?  What about those times of kicking back to do my own thing?  What about my silence about Jesus before non-believers?  What about those sins of omission?

God uses pain to scream into our lives.

Actually, God is speaking day-by-day but the noise of laughter, picnics and fellowship cause His speech to be but a whisper.

God is daily speaking in all life situations but I definitely hear better when I take note of the pain, loss and evil others are experiencing.

BUT – when it is directly me or mine in pain, loss or evil; God’s speech is LOUD! God screams!