Positioned by Pain

What do you do when you find yourself at a crossroads where it feels as though you are doomed if you stay and doomed if you leave?

Ever been there?

I have.

Actually, I am.

I’m at a point in my journey where the questions, “Why?” and “How much longer, Lord?” are trying to outrun each other in my mind.

Not sure about you all, but I have a strong dislike for the standstill. It brings a quiet acknowledgement that all our resources have been exhausted, or worse, that we are incapable of moving the needle, regardless of how hard we try.

The level of vulnerability that comes with dealing with the uncertainty of the standstill isn’t for the weak. It feels as though the more you try, the more you realize that you are not in control of your own storyline.

So what do we do?

We do our best not to linger in the emotional toll that comes with feeling stuck and instead carve out an escape route.

We spend the majority of our time looking for help everywhere. We turn every leaf, ask everyone, and try to open every door, but don’t often pause to borrow a page from Hannah’s book.

As I found myself digging through the book of 1 Samuel, I couldn’t quite understand why the Lord kept drawing me back to it. Soon enough, though, I realized He wasn’t asking me to revisit a familiar story. He was trying to show me something I had missed.

I realized something that wasn’t easy to accept: God doesn’t intervene simply because our road is difficult. Scripture reminds us again and again that He sometimes allows us to walk through painful seasons because they are accomplishing something we cannot yet see. Yet, in our carnal thinking, we fool ourselves into believing that He has to intervene in our story simply because we’ve pleaded with Him.

Hannah was very familiar with God’s timing. In her story, we are told that year after year she was provoked by her husband’s second wife because of her inability to bear children.

Year after year feels like a long time.

Yet, God still didn’t show up.

Yet, this was not the end of her story. Her anguish brought her to the priest Eli's attention.

That’s when it clicked for me.

Sometimes our pain, or our needs, position us for divine favor.

Were she not in deep anguish, she wouldn’t have been weeping bitterly before God, nor would she have caught the attention of the priest.

Sometimes we are in such a rush to get through a painful season that we fail to realize He has us exactly where we need to be.

Where can that be?

In a place where we can’t look left, right, or center, but have to come to a place of surrender.

In a place where we have no other choice but to muster one final plea:

“Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me…”

If we understood what Hannah understood, perhaps we too would give birth to our Samuel. And every day for the rest of our lives, we’d look at our blessing and know that it came to pass “because we’ve asked the Lord for it.”

If you find yourself at an impasse today, you are not alone.

Keep hope.

Get in position.

Remember: Before Hannah ever held Samuel in her arms, God had already begun answering her prayer.

With love always,

Chris