Lately, I’ve been grappling with the fact that sometimes God leads us to bad places on purpose, and not necessarily for our own benefit, but … wait for it … for HIS GLORY.
It seems strange that the God who loves us, who is love, would want us to suffer. But sometimes He does, even when we’ve done nothing wrong.
The entire time we were leaving Nepal, I kept asking myself, asking God, “Why is this happening to us?” I said to myself, “I don’t deserve this, we don’t deserve this.”
But sometimes, we get to be part of something bigger that only God can see, and it’s only through pain and suffering that God — because of the pain and suffering in this world — makes things work.
Two images have repeatedly come to my mind while we continue our transition from West Coast to Asia to East Coast. The first is Joseph, sitting in a jail cell, asking himself, “Why did my father send me out to check on my brothers that day?” The second: Daniel, asking himself, “What am I going to eat here?”
It’s easy for us to see how God uses Joseph and Daniel. Their stories are epic. Both become two of the most powerful men in Biblical history, and God, through them, lays forth part of His foundation for our redemption and rescue.
It’s interesting, because as we were leaving Nepal, I could’ve sworn God told me I was being redeemed and rescued. It’s the same phrase He uses throughout the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah for the Israelites who, including Daniel, are being carried off to a foreign land after watching their own home be destroyed.
I’ve always wondered how horrible it must’ve been to lose everything you owned, to leave part of your family behind, to be faced with finding a new life in a foreign land without much thought about what might come next.
This is the life of the exile: loss, pain and suffering. Yet, these are the ones God is blessing. The remainder either die by the sword or famine. Huh. Interesting. Yes, God really uses pain for His glory.
To some extent, my family and I feel like Babylonian exiles. We’ve given up everything, left family behind in Nepal and are faced with finding a new life in what feels like a foreign land.
Yes, my wife and I have both lived here before, but it’s been so long that this city we now call home looks so, so different. For sure, we have it much, much better than the Exiles. We’re not living like indentured servants and slaves, and we are now close to family that for the longest time has always been thousands of miles away.
Some days still feel a bit rough and raw despite God telling us to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you.”
Yet I’m reminded that every morning — every moment, really — we get to pick up our cross and go. My cross feels heavier these past few months than it ever has before, but I still need to get up and go.
I don’t know what is before us. But I must trust, that despite what now seems so difficult, will lead me to His glory.
“‘Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 29:12-14a)
Some day, we will look back upon this time and say, “I see His hand moving.”
The pain and suffering won’t last. But His glory will. I’ve been redeemed and rescued.
Thank you for sharing this. Blessings as you readjust and discern what is next.
I am a new reader of your blog and have not gone back to read what happened to cause you to move from Nepal but I did want to say that your post touched me. Although nothing as dramatic as your change, we have also had a major change happen in our ministry. You have really helped me grapple with accepting this change. Thank you.