God’s Megaphone

“Pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures , speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

C.S. Lewis

Have you ever had pain so badly that it throbbed? I’ve hit my thumb with a hammer before and it felt like my thumb was going to explode. The pain in my thumb was sending signals to my brain, “I’m hurt! Help me!” I held it, sucked on it and then put ice on it until it quit hurting. Whenever I grabbed something for the next few days, I would remember that I hit it because the pain was still deep inside. Eventually it went away and I forgot that my thumb had ever been hit.

When we go through pain and suffering in our lives, it’s a lot like that. Our pain signals us to call out to God, “I’m hurt! Help me!” He then comes to us and helps us in our pain. He speaks to us in those times and shows us things in His Word that we’ve never seen or understood until we were in that kind of pain. As time goes on, the pain goes away and so often, our dependence on God.

When times are good, we tend to forget God. We have no need of Him if we really don’t know Him. He is kind of our 9-1-1 call when we are in trouble. He’s always available, but we don’t call Him until we need Him. When we do call in those times, He does respond, but He wants to be more than your go to guy for an emergency. He wants to be the one you go to in the good times as well. He’s speaking to us in those times as well, but we don’t hear Him because we are too busy enjoying life.

Bad things happen from time to time so that He can renew our relationship. Every time the children of Israel forgot God, He would send the prophets to remind them and to draw them back. When they wouldn’t listen, He would allow them to be taken to captivity until they remembered hat God said in Leviticus 26:3-13. He said if they would listen to Him and obey He would pour out all kinds of blessings on them. He spent the rest of the chapter letting them know that if they forgot Him, He would use pain and calamity to draw them back.

If things are rough in your life right now, chances are that God is shouting to you. He could be trying to get your attention to speak to you. I’m not saying you’ve done something wrong in your life, but maybe God is trying to get your attention. Instead of running from the pain, try stopping, calling out to God for help and then listening. There are things He wants to say to us all the time, but we’re usually not listening until pain is involved. Take time today to listen.