call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways" declares the Lord
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts
(Isaiah 55:6-9)
In life there is suffering.
Whatever way we choose to look at it, there is suffering is this world, and this suffering can affect us. In life and faith, almost everyone will have experienced a time when we feel distressed, insecure and sometimes even desperate. However, in these times it is important to remember to seek the Lord. Suffering never ends as just suffering in life of Faith. In contrary, these moments are the times that we can seek the Lord, and meet Him.
When a child is healthy, its mother will often pay very little attention, and let her baby run around around freely. However, when the baby becomes sick or in despair, the Mother comes closer. Like a Mother that gathers her sick child in her arms - so God pays closer attention when we are sick too.
Apostle Paul knew this well, describing his suffering as a thorn in his flesh, he often prayed to the Lord asking for it to be taken away. But the answer he was given was that through his insufficiencies and weaknesses, the power and comfort of God would come more to Him. So to for us too, we can meet God more deeply in our pain.
The secret to overcoming our suffering and weaknesses is to place God at the centre of our lives.
Changing my thoughts to His thoughts, my ways to His ways.
God is the God that Loves us unconditionally and forgives us no matter what we do. The suffering we experience is not suffering in His eyes and we simply cannot comprehend how God’s thoughts and ways transcend ours. King Solomon once wrote God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:2)
The dimension of God is different to ours. We can live according to our thoughts and our ways, and this makes our troubles seem bigger and greater than they actually are. In this time, we must remember the difference between an eternal God and finite Man. Wisdom is living with this realisation and then changing to live life with God more and more as the centre.
In Revelations it talks of a door in Heaven that stands open where God waits for us to look up to Him. Just thinking and being confined in our thoughts is when the difficulties in life seem to magnify. The molehill becomes the mountain. But by moving our thinking vertically with Faith, many tasks become smaller and easier. Life becomes simple.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways... (Isaiah 55:9)
When we think about God and the Love of sending His only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us, these momentary difficulties and struggles fade away. During these times we can come to realise that nothing in a life of Faith is in vain, suffering in Christ, never ends as suffering, and God whom we cannot grasp or fathom, can suddenly become more vivid and real to us in these moments.
Treasure even your suffering for there is a reason for everything!