No one wishes for a trip to the emergency room.
From traumatic accidents to blind-siding illnesses, there’s never a pleasant reason to visit the ER.
Of course, the good thing is when the doctors and nurses are able to help, and life is saved or remedied enough to regain a measure of comfort.
Let’s face it, we’re better off that emergency rooms exist even though we never want to have to go to one.
When was the last time you went to the ER? I bet the whole time you were there, you were thinking to yourself, Man, this is SUCH a blessing!!
Am I right?
It’s difficult for us to perceive suffering as a good thing let alone something to be thankful for. Any benefit we garnish from suffering usually comes to light after the fact, not in the middle of puking out your stomach lining or holding your split chin closed or trying to keep from looking at the bone sticking out of your elbow. I’m pretty sure that time I had the stomach flu, I was not praising Lord Jesus for the monster mash twisting my guts like a Tasmanian devil.
Perhaps my relative, however, after this past weekend, will see trips to the ER differently from now on. And because of him, we can too.
See, he lives in Reno, NV. And last week, he had to take a trip to the emergency room. I’m not even sure why. But it was bad enough to keep him at home and in bed all the next day. That was a bummer, though, because he had been given free, expensive, choice, grandstand seats to a local event and he was looking forward to attending. But because of his emergency illness, the whole family stayed home.
You know what that local event was?
The air show that you heard about on the news, the one during which a plane crashed into the grandstand, killing and injuring dozens.
Yea, the same grandstand my relative would have been sitting in were it not for the emergency room visit he’d suffered through the night before.
Now, from my perspective, naturally since we’re talking about my loved one, I see this as the hand of God protecting him and his family. Of course, I grieve for those who did lose their lives. I don’t know about the hand of God in their situation. Since He knows every day we live before we’re even born, it could be that Saturday was those people’s appointed time to die. Doesn’t help the family members mourning them now.
But it wasn’t my relative’s time, and God used suffering as a way of making sure of it.
We all experience suffering and disappointment in life. Some day-to-day irksome things and other huge, life-changing things. But if we’re still breathing, then it is all for a reason, His reason, His perfect plan. Often times, we find this out way down the road, and can be thankful circumstances played out as they did even though they hurt. Other times, we have absolutely no idea why we endured such a painful experience. And rarely do we ever thank God in the midst of the suffering.
But I think this example in the life of my relative proves that we can and we should praise the Lord Jesus in all things, maybe even especially in the sufferings. You never know what He’s protecting you from that could be much, much worse.
God is sovereign. He’s also good. He’s not causing or allowing pain to be a jerk. He loves us so much, He causes or allows it for a good reason that is always, always for our good. (Rom. 8:28) So we can thank Him. In all things.
Be blessed, Dry Ground friends.
1 comments:
Wow. I can only imagine how you felt when you heard that story. It's a comfort to know someone was looking out for your family member! Reminds me of all the stories of 9-11 survivors who escaped death simply because they spilled coffee on their pants and had to change, or stopped to buy a band-aid for a blister caused by new shoes. It makes you think twice about every setback.
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