SUFFERING-IS IT WASTED TIME?

Are you going through a trial that has brought your life to a screeching halt?

That's what happened to me when I began to experience some perplexing medical problems that the doctors could not resolve. Over the months, as my symptoms increased they began to create more and more restrictions on my life, making it impossible, at times, to participate in some of life's basic functions: working, sleeping, socializing with friends, going to church.

For months I prayed and waited for God to bring healing . . . to lead me to that one doctor who would have the wisdom to treat my problem so that I could resume living a "normal" life, but that prayer remained unanswered. As a result, I've had to deal with feelings of uselessness and deep frustration over the inability to live the life I thought I was supposed to live.

Forced inactivity led to a mental/spiritual tug-of-war with God's promise in Romans 8:28 that states: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." How could anything good come from being sick all the time?

Then one day, while reading the book of Exodus and how the Israelites suffered for centuries under the oppressive bondage of slavery in Egypt, I came across a verse that struck a cord in my heart: "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." (Exodus 1:12).

The more the enemy afflicted God's children, the more God made them increase in number!

As I meditated on this verse for awhile, I became amazed how used His children's time of affliction to fulfill His promise of building a kingdom of people whom even the gates of hell could not prevail against.

Likewise, King David, a beloved servant of God and renowned leader of Israel, spent 14 years hiding in wilderness caves from Saul who wanted to kill him. God had appointed David to kingship in his youth, but more than a decade of seeming inactivity preceded David's actual assent to the throne—a decade of frustration and suffering. Was it wasted time?

Were it not for those years on the run, we wouldn't have some of the most anointed and prophetic words in Scripture today—the Psalms, written by King David durinig his years of affliction.

Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, wrote a book entitled, "When God Doesn't Make Sense" in which he states, "Most of us in Western nations are motivated to use every second of our existence for some gainful purpose. But the Lord sometimes permits our years to be 'squandered' or so it would seem . . . ."

Is it possible that in certain instances what God wants to accomplish through our lives can only come to fruition within the context of isolation?

Prayer: Dear Lord, I don't know why You have brought my life to a halt, or why You allow this prolonged suffering to keep me from serving You in the ways that I long to do. But You are the God who makes something out of nothing—You multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed 5000 and I know You can use this time in my life to multiply Your purposes. Thank you that no time is squandered in Your hands. Amen.