Hidden Gold

“…we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” 

Romans 5:3-5

When we are in pain, undergoing a trial we see no end to, in financial difficulty, plagued by an addiction, we call upon God day and night. We think, can He hear us? Why is He not answering? Has He abandoned us, 

forgotten us? 

C.S. Lewis wrote that pain is God’s megaphone. “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.” God gets our attention through pain because we cannot rely on our own efforts to make things right. Sometimes when we are happy with our life, our hands are too full to accept what God wants to give us. All God’s gifts are worth more than the 

fool’s gold of this world.

Daniel Ritchie “stepped into suffering” at his birth because he was born without arms. He wrote: “God has shouted to me through my pain and reminded me of his truth. As the mocking words of men fell on my heart like an avalanche, God showed me that it is only His words that bring life (Psalm 119:25). It was in my brokenness that I saw God’s true strength as he carried me along. It was in seeing my shattered identity as a disabled boy that I could see the beauty of being a blood-bought son (Romans 8:15). God used my hurt so that he could clearly write the lessons of his grace on my heart and set my affections on him (Psalm 119:67).”

Yes Lord, engrave Your truths in my heart so even in the midst of trial and suffering, I may never think You have forsaken me. God allows afflictions to come into our life. We do not have a choice about that, but we can choose to see it as a gift, and redeem the 

gold hidden in it.