Wrestling with Scripture

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NLT

Have you ever had to wrestle with certain Scriptures? To be honest, I’ve had to wrestle with the thoughts of God comforting us, so that we can comfort others with “the same comfort that God has given us”. I didn’t understand the deeper heart of the Father. I’m called to serve in inner healing ministry. The enemy tried to use that section of Scripture to distort God’s heart and tell me that God put me through several traumas specifically to wound me, so that He could heal me, comfort me, and then use me to comfort others. The enemy lied to me and tried to get me to believe that God, Himself, abused me. Should be no surprise there, since the first mention of the devil in Scripture finds him casting doubt upon God’s goodness in order to lead Adam and Eve into sin.

Many of us who have been through severe trauma find ourselves wrestling with God and asking Him where He was, or why He allowed the bad things to happen to us. The truth is that God doesn’t abuse anyone. He always has our best eternal interests in mind. Unfortunately, some humans don’t. We are living in a fallen world and sometimes bad people do bad things to us. God doesn’t violate anyone’s free will. One time I asked Him why He didn’t violate my abuser’s free will. That would have kept me safe. He lovingly said, “If I violate one person’s free will, I’m not safe at all.” That made sense. Our abusers never gave us a chance to say no. God does. That makes Him safe. Another time I asked Him where He was when I was abused. He showed me that He was standing right next to me. I got mad and said, “If you were right there when I was being abused and you didn’t stop it, that makes You an accomplice!” He showed me that He didn’t want me to be abused, and that He was actually protecting my personhood – who He knit me together in my mother’s womb to be – during the abuse. My abusers did harm my body, but they weren’t able to harm who God made me to be. No human can stop our hearts from being transformed into the character of Jesus Christ as we yield our hearts to Him. No one. No matter what they do to us.

As I continued to grow in my healing process, I began to realize the deeper heart of God in the comforting process. Yes, He comforts us in all our troubles so we can comfort others with the same comfort that we’ve been comforted with; but the greater purpose in receiving comfort is that we grow deeper in our relationship with the Father as we become more like Christ. Comforting others is merely the fruit of receiving comfort from Him and becoming like Him.

Stop Living in the Drain Pan!!!

When our kids were little, we purchased a series of very used refrigerators for our house. One of them had a problem with the drain pan and the tube running from the refrigerator to the pan. Every so often the pan would overflow and start leaking onto the floor. The pan was full of nasty, moldy water and scum. I’d try as carefully as possible to slide it out from under the refrigerator and empty it without spilling most of the filth on the floor. You can guess how that went. Eventually, the tube from the refrigerator to the drain pan would get plugged and we’d have issues inside the refrigerator itself. More messiness.

A few weeks ago, during my quiet time, the Lord showed me a picture of a nasty drain pain full of smelly, moldy water. Some of the scum formed a plug at the bottom of the drain pan and was holding the water in. I recognized the drain pan and its contents. It represented my residual brokenness. The Lord showed me that was an emotional place I retreated to when I felt insecure and inferior. It was familiar. Sometimes it seemed to offer a strange, eerie comfort. It gave me an excuse to not press through the current challenges and risk defeat. It gave me an alternative to being vulnerable, facing the pain, and trusting the Lord to do a deeper work in my heart. The Lord told me to stop living in the drain pan. He was calling me to trust Him and stand in who I really was in Him, rather than cowering in my human brokenness. I was the one keeping the plug in place. He helped me to renounce the plug and repent for retreating to the false comfort of familiar shame and internal isolation. When I did, all of the nasty water started plunging out. Then I saw a picture of a globe and the ocean water was coming out of the globe and gushing through the drain pan to clean it out and open up the doors of opportunity. There were still some stains on the drain pan. I think they help me remember what life in the drain pan was like. I don’t want to go back there. Then I noticed the water was flowing through me to cleanse others. God wants to do a deep work in all of our hearts and equip and empower us to “comfort others with the comfort we have been comforted with”.

What about you? Are you living in your own drain pain? Do you retreat to a familiar hiding place of brokenness when you feel like you’re in a situation that reminds you of your past failures and current shortcomings? If you can relate, I encourage you to repent and take the plug out of your drain pan. Allow the Lord to clean your heart and empower you to stand in your true identity in Christ. You’ll find a strength you’ve never known before, and out of your belly will flow rivers of living water to bless others for the good of eternity. God is calling us out of our familiar hiding places of brokenness and into His marvelous light.

[Photo courtesy of Michael and Dianne Weidner via Unsplash.]