“I imagine God is pleased when we allow the foolish things of this world to confound our wisdom- when we allow ourselves to be drawn into His love in the most peculiar ways.”- Matt Bays
Matt Bays begins Chapter 10 (“Me Encanta- The Love of God”) of Finding God in the Ruins by observing there are heavenly moments when everything aligns and we have no trouble sensing the presence of God. So when pain comes, we may be too eager to punctuate our pain with an exclamation point-before that exclamation point belongs there.
Instead, we must understand our pain- be comfortable enough to put an ellipsis where an ellipsis belongs. In The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson describes an ellipsis as a time of waiting during which we feel God is answering everyone else’s prayers but ours. Pastor Bays offers his perspective on unredeemed pain and how we are drawn into His love:
“But for those things that have been left unredeemed, pain can be a lifetime mortgage. . . . Yet it will not be all that is me. It does not complete me. While it remains, God also will remain. And I will find him in the ruins, among three thorns and three prayers for their removal. He will provide his copathy and care. . . and laughter and love- especially love.”
Matt adds that at times it feels like God has invited himself into our pain, when what we really had been looking for was a invitation into God’s healing. While we desire a God who heals our wounds, Matt states that “it seems we have a God who heals our hearts.”
Today’s question (from Matt): What does the phrase “sometimes it feels like God has invited himself into my pain, when I had hope to be invited into his healing” mean to you? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The untold story”
