Saturday: Between Tragedy and Triumph

Pain is unavoidable. It is part of our everyday lives whether we like it or not. Pain is what makes us take our fingers off the hot stove; it is one of God's gifts to us. Emotional pain is also one of God's gifts to us. It also warns us that there is something not quite right in our lives. Unfortunately, some Christians think that they should be spared from that kind of pain, but that is simply not true. Jesus was "a man of suffering and familiar with pain" (Isaiah 53:3). As followers of Christ we should also expect to experience pain. If you put your hand in the fire and it does not burn, then there is something wrong. If you lose your mother to cancer and you do not grieve, then there is something wrong. Life does hurt from time to time. That is what this book is about. The heroes of the faith that we read about in the Bible were human like us. They had their problems. Some of them experienced intense emotional pain. Even though they were God's people, God did not spare them from pain.