Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, they somehow manage, right? This year has been a wild one for everyone. People have contracted illnesses, lost jobs, had family members pass away, property damage, church shutdowns, and the list goes on. One of the consistent things I have observed in this tumultuous time is the responses people give to these circumstances are usually a secondary response to a different issue. In many ways, God has been graciously poking those sore spots, and for good reason.

I dare say all of us have experienced it. You bump a bruise and look down at that blackish-purple splotch on your body and ask, “Where did that come from?“ We all know it came from some previous injury, but our memory seems to fail us every time and we have no idea how such an injury was inflicted or else we remember bumping our hip on the kitchen counter last week and just happened to notice the bruise this morning while putting on a belt. 2020, feels like it has been a bruise-maker, not a bruise-poker. I know how we get bruises, but I don’t know of a “cure” for a bruise outside of a simple passing of time, all I know is they hurt and they look pretty gnarly and tend to bring a lot of attention and drama. Sometimes they are gone in a few days, sometimes it takes weeks. Grief, pain, and disappointment are strange things like bruises. Sometimes it is an event, even a traumatic event, you know it hurts at the time, but you think you can walk it off. Then, a few weeks, months, or even years later, “Ouch! Where did that come from?” Why does it hurt so much, and why does the pain seem to be so cyclical. Let’s quickly examine two perspectives on pain, one from the grief and circumstantial pain, and the other from disciplinary pain as a result of sin; both of which I believe God uses and is using, to cultivate holiness in our life.

2020, a new decade, for many an opportunity for a fresh start. Then, wham! A disease starts looming in the east and we sit squirming like a child whose parent has just put on a clown mask and is creeping across the room: uncomfortable, concerned, increasingly fearful. What hit us was not a rubber hammer with a squeaker in it. Shutdowns, murder hornets, mandatory masks, and skyrocketing unemployment. It was all right there menacing us in the background, but for many, that was not our primary concern. Many had different medical conditions, family strains, educational decisions glaring right in front of them. How many of us prayed that agonizing prayer, “God, this was supposed to be a good year!” Exactly. In the midst of pain, it is all too easy to view our circumstances as necessarily God’s judgment on us, more on that in a minute, but that’s not always the case. Always and in every place God is acting as the good director of a play that has dramatic twists and turns. We, as the actors, need to recognize the difficulty as difficulty, as pain, as a disappointment because that is what the script says for this scene. Step back and look at the bigger picture. Is that upcoming surgery an unexpected hurdle? Sure. Was getting laid off in a second shutdown a gut-wrenching plot twist? You bet. Does God intend to resolve those plot points in the third act? Without question.

So, here in the discouragement and pain is what I propose to do. Cry. Yes, cry if you need to. That is what this scene calls for right now. But remember, the show must go on. Your pain now has a purpose to the plot later. And that payoff may likely come sooner than you expect. The happy ending of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility is not so sweet if Mr.  Willoughby does not break Marianne Dashwood’s heart and ruin her reputation. All the same, your precarious situation now is exactly what God has ordained for your good and for His glory now. Willoughby’s treachery leads not only to a happy wedding and redemption by Colonel Brandon for Marianne, but it also brings acclaim and renown to Jane Austen as a remarkable author and storyteller. We can believe that the pain we feel in this life is real and it is alright and perfectly acceptable to acknowledge it, feel it, stitch it, and bandage it up. But you must not, I repeat, you must not allow your setbacks to hinder you from running your race, from playing your part. The show must go on.

But what about judgment, what about sin? Though ultimately our current state of affairs, I believe, is God’s gentle reminder to turn our gaze back to him. I also believe there is a significant amount of judgment and God-given discipline coming our way like an avalanche should we individually and corporately not repent. Why? Because God is a just and merciful God, slow to anger and rich in abounding love. What? Yes, and because of that, he by no means clears the guilty or leaves the wicked unpunished, visiting the sins of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generation. Have you confessed your sins? If not, then look at the previous paragraphs, those truths of God’s gracious providence are true. You may be the character taking a beating in this scene for good reason and yet without learning the lesson. This means a harsher poke of your bruise is probably forthcoming because we know what follows pride. God uses this pain, he pokes these bruises to bring his children back to him. But he also uses pain and difficulty to drive the wicked from his presence. Confess your sins, repent, and come back to the Father for healing and restoration for “a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth” (Is. 42:3). Have you confessed your sins? If yes, then look at the previous paragraphs, those truths of God’s gracious providence are true. The Lord has chastened the one he loves and welcomes you back as a loving father receives back an apologetic child.

In summary, yes, this year has been difficult. Also, something tells me there’s probably some tough sledding ahead of us. But we have a hope that allows us to have peace in times of trial, confidence in times of difficulty, courage in times of pain, and hope in times of hardship. Let us strive to follow the example of the apostle Paul when he said, “may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Phl 3:12). Play your part. Do it well, know that this scene has an end and your tears are not for nothing. God will be glorified on the earth and his story is not yet done being told.