God Meets Us in Our Challenge

Experiencing chronic pain has been one of the best things that ever happened to me.

When you pause and look around, you’ll see that weakness isn’t valued by most people. But I’ve learned to embrace it, and it has deeply shaped my daily life. I received a medical diagnosis saying I could live in pain for the rest of my life. Those words can change the way you think about almost everything.

That didn’t happen right away, but rather over several years of failed attempts to solve my pain problem. I slowly learned to embrace suffering as an instrument of God’s loving grace toward me. As author C.S. Lewis once wrote, “God shouts in our pains.” I was finally able to listen.

The Apostle Paul said he was “content with weakness” and even called being weak a strength. (2 Corinthians 12:10) I never really understood this until I accepted my pain.

And when I did, I realized God wasn’t rejecting me in my pain, He was pulling me close. He wasn’t neglecting or cursing me; He was blessing me.

When you face personal trials and your own weakness, do you feel like God has forgotten you? Remember, Jesus Himself understood weakness, pain, hardships, and suffering. He experienced the abandonment of His friends and even His own Father when God turned His face away from Him on the cross. Jesus was rejected in our place so we could be accepted. He became weak so we could know the strength of God’s power in life. He knows what you’re going through, and He wants to comfort you in the hurt.

Weakness and pain often bring you to the end of self-reliance. They force you to admit your need and cry out to God for help. That isn’t a bad thing.

God will do whatever it takes to free you from the lie of invincibility. Why? Because depending on God is always better. Suffering and the weakness it brings reveal the danger of self-reliance. It shows the illusion of living with complete independence.

He wants to meet you in life’s challenges and show His love by exposing your need for Him and drawing you close. God wants to give you something better than a trouble-free life—He wants to give you Himself.

Application Questions:

• In what specific ways can you admit your need for God and reject the lie of invincibility?
• Why is the gift of God Himself better than the gift of a trouble-free life?

Prayer:

"Lord, thank You for loving me even when life is hard and I feel weak. Help me to trust You more and rely on Your strength, not my own. Remind me that You understand my pain because Jesus went through it too. Give me courage to let go of self-reliance and rest in Your care."

Shelby Abbott
Philadelphia, USA
Cru Campus Content Strategist

These first ten days focused on Win—sharing the good news of Jesus with others. Tomorrow we begin the next section, Build, where we’ll look at how to strengthen our faith and grow as followers of Christ.