There Is Purpose in This Place

I admit, I often battle discouragement in my pursuit of health. I am beyond grateful for the extensive treatment protocol that I’ve been allowed the opportunity to pursue this past year. And yet, while it gives me great hope, the process is still brutal–with no guaranteed outcome.

I’m confident that this journey won’t be wasted, however long it lasts, but I struggle at times with a heart of discontentment in the place that the Lord has me. In all honesty, I simply long to know what it feels like to not be in nearly constant discomfort. I long to enjoy food without fearing it will hurt me. I long to truly experience mental, physical, and emotional rest, even momentary relief from a nervous system that lives on constant high alert.

Have you been where I am? Maybe it isn’t your health, but it’s other life circumstances. Are you there now, struggling to accept where God has you and what he has allowed? I’m right there with you.

However, these are the words that I stumbled upon recently as the stirring discontentment was affecting my perspective, attitude, and mood-

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him…Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God” (1 Corinthians 7:1, 20-24).

Paul was speaking to the Corinthians, addressing their discontentment in marital status, racial and cultural identity, and position as slaves desiring freedom. While some of you may be struggling with a desired change in marital status or cultural identity, most are not struggling with the with desire to be free from slavery. However, we can find ourselves feeling enslaved to undesired circumstances, failing bodies, the battle of sin, and situations we never expected to be in. We can feel enslaved to the burdens of life.

As I read these verses several times, they began to sink in, revealing my heart of discontentment. What it exposed in me was an attitude that said, “I’ve sacrificed, I’ve put in the work, I’ve committed to this hard journey, I’ve followed what seemed to be your leading, but now, I want to be free from this. I’ve had enough, I expected to be healed by now and, I just want to be ‘normal’.”

Can you relate? Have you endured and prayed through a trial but are beginning to feel weary? Are you sensing a spirit of discontentment and frustration growing within you? You are not alone.

In these verses, Paul reminds us of the truths we need to recognize when we find ourselves in these moments. Here are a few helpful ways that we can find encouragement in through Paul’s words:

We are not called to be comfortable. We are called to live the life that God has called us to, a life set apart for him.

The truth is, it is more comfortable to live a life of sin than of holiness. It is more comfortable to serve self than to serve others. It’s more comfortable to seek immediate gratification than to sacrifice our temporal desires for a better portion. It is more comfortable to seek our best life now than our best life in eternity. Is comfort really our ultimate goal?

In our flesh, yes. But in the Spirit, we’re called to something even greater.

When Jesus walked this earth, he was anything but comfortable. Therefore, Christ’s work in a believer’s life is not to supply them with everything they would normally desire, but instead shape their desires to become resolute and single minded in the gospel, living less for this world and more for the world to come.

Therefore, while we can (and should) pray for health, a new job, a spouse, a healthy child, or a change in circumstance, we must realize that those things are not what we are ultimately living for. Could it be that God may choose to withhold what we desire in order to redirect us from seeking solely what’s comfortable and “good” in this world to increase our longing for what’s lasting? For example, while I loathe being sick on many levels, I am thankful for its sanctifying work in my life. Physical pain and discomfort have taught me what it means to rely on Christ on a moment-by-moment basis, all while increasing my longing for my eternal home.

As believers, Jesus Christ takes our normal and ordinary lives, changes our hearts, minds, and eternal destination and, transforms us (often through these unwanted circumstances) into his likeness. When we grow to understand what we deserve apart from Christ and that the circumstances of our lives are not just by chance but graciously ordained and sustained with a purpose, we can choose to walk by faith in His promises. In the words of J.R. Miller²,

The question of small or great has no place here. To have been thought about at all, and then fashioned by God’s hands to fill any place, is glory enough for the grandest and most aspiring life. And the highest place to which anyone can attain in life is that for which he was designed and made.

We should pursue answers and better circumstances, but trust God’s timing and purposes even if they don’t come.

Paul was reminding the Corinthians that they should certainly seek freedom from slavery if the opportunity availed itself, but, if it didn’t, they were to be content in whatever situation they found themselves.

In other words, although they desired freedom, it was not a God-given right but, rather, a preferable option.¹ We too, can desire relief and seek it in the ways God may provide, but we also need to humbly accept the things from God that may not be what we were seeking. As Jerry Bridges said³,

Our lives demand a delicate balance between godly efforts to improve our situation and godly acceptance of those situations we cannot honorably change.

I know that I can be quick to forget my position before God apart from Christ, which tempts me to complain when pain, disappointment, or inconveniences strike. Therefore, although I desire relief that hasn’t come as quickly as I’d like, I can trust that Christ has not forgotten or turned a blind eye. He is actively working, shaping, loving, guiding, and equipping me. The same is true for you.

If he has chosen to delay, or even if he chooses to never remove this thorny trial, will we still trust him? While our flesh cringes at that thought, the Spirit within us must speak louder. Jesus is worthy of our trust in him and he is worth following, no matter the cost. Because apart from him, we are hopeless, powerless, lost, and suffering without a purpose. Yes, even in the trials, we can know that he is with us and he is for us.

If God loves us enough to sacrifice his Son to save us, then nothing he allows will be outside of that love.

This is one that I need to dwell on. God sacrificed his own Son so that we could be saved from a life of slavery to sin and a deserved eternity in hell. If he can save me from hell, he certainly can save me from a life of chronic pain and illness. And he can save you, in whatever place you find yourself. However, if he chooses not to, at least for the moment, then he must have something greater for us. It helps to remember that God did not enjoy watching his son suffer, but in his amazing love for us, even as undeserving and ungrateful sinners, he still allowed his Son to be beaten, mocked, and killed, in order to purchase our freedom through sacrifice. When that truth sinks deep, discontentment and even hatred for our current situations should begin to pale in comparison to the life of bondage and eternal hell that would be ours apart from Jesus. So we can be confident that God will not let us suffer one moment longer than his proven love allows.

Christian, God has brought you and I to the places we are, at this time, for a reason. He is allowing it for his sovereign purposes, even as it grieves him to watch us suffer. We may not understand why and we may not know for how long, but he promises that he is faithfully working. We can choose to fight it, or we can grab hold of the truths that we have in the gospel, surrender our demands for freedom from our earthly troubles, and trust that we are part of a far greater plan than we could ever imagine. Our troubles, though numerous on this earth, are momentary. And they will pale in comparison to the glories that await us.

For me, I long for healing and relief from that difficult circumstances that seem to be around every corner. However, this life is short and never a guarantee. We have each been given breath for a purpose and a time. So friends in Christ, while I certainly don’t make light of what you may be experiencing, no circumstance you are enduring is as terrible as it would be apart from Christ, who has given us a hope in and beyond this life. Find encouragement and strength to fight another day in the truth that you are free and running towards a glorious and eternal prize. Today, let’s not strive for “normal”, but rather, something greater. May we submit ourselves to the loving will of our Father, allowing him to transform us to know and reflect more of Jesus, who has called us out of normal and into his glorious light.

Home is around the corner,

Sarah Walton

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¹ John Macarthur ESV Bible Commentary, ² Jerry Bridges-31 Days Toward Trusting God, ³ Jerry Bridges-31 Days Toward Trusting God