OUR DAILY BREAD : PLAY IN PAIN

[cimi]

June 19
Wednesday


PLAY IN PAIN

READ:
Lamentations 3:1-3,
25-33
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Though He causes
grief, yet He will show
compassion.
__Lamentations 3:32
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Baseball Hall-of-Fame catcher Gary carter was a follower of Jesus. During his 19-year career, he drew strength and endurance from his faith in God to compete day after day. In an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal shortly after Carter died of brain cancer at age 57, writer Andrew Klavan told how Carter had influenced his life.

In the late 1980s, Klavan had sunk to a low point in his life. His mind dwelt on suicide. then he heard Carter interviewed after a game. His team, the New Your Mets, had won, and the aging catcher had helped by running hard at a critical point in the game. Carter was asked how he could do that with his aching knees. Klavan heard him say something like this: "Sometimes you just have to play in pain." That simple statement helped draw Klavan out of his depression. "I can do that!" he declared. Encouraged, he found hope__and later became a believer in Christ.

The comforting truth behind Carter's statement comes from Lamentations. We may face sorrow, pain, and hardship, but we don't have to sink into self_pity. The samd God who allows our suffering also showers us with His compassion (Lam. 3,32). With God's love lifting us up, we can__if we have to__"play" in pain. ___Dave Egner

````````````Along life's pathway troubles come````````````````
``````````````That God will help us bear;````````````````````
``````````Then we can look beyond the pain`````````````````
`````````To those who need our care. __Branon``````````````
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God will either spare you from suffering
or give you the grace to bear it.

****************Today's Bible Reading __ Lamentations 3:1-3,25-33******************

1 I am the man who has
seen affliction by the rod of
His wrath. 2 He has led me
and made me walk in
darkness and not in light.

3 Surely He has turned His
hand against me time and
time again throughout the
day....

25 The LORD is good to
those who wait for Him, to
the soul who seeks Him.

26 It is good that one should
hope and wait quietly for
the salvation of the LORD.

27 It is good for a man to
bear the yoke in his youth.

28 Let him sit alone and
keep silent, because God
has laid it on him; 29 Let him
put his mouth in the dust__
there may yet be hope.

30 Let him give his cheek to
the one who strikes him,
and be full of reproach.

31 For the Lord will not
cast off forever. 32 Though
He causes grief, yet he will
show compassion according
to the multitude of His
mercies. 33 for He does not
afflict willingly, nor grieve
the children of men.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Today's reading comes from Lamentations. 3. The entire chapter
reflects on the theme that pain is made endurable through hope.
Judah's distress is described in word pictures. Its suffering is
described as traveling a winding road, suffering attack by fearsome
predators, being pierced with an arrow in the heart, eating bitter
food, and even having one's face rubbed in the dirt. yet in this
chapter the people are comforted with the assurance of God's
gracious faithfulness (vv.22-23). God's caring character is elevated
as the anchor of hope despite destructive circumstances. Aslso, in
the case of judah, suffering can be viewed sometimes as divine
discipline that one day will come to an end. In the big picture,
God's sovereign decrees include both pain and blessing.