God just hates me.

I’m embarrassed to admit that those words really came out of my mouth. But, truth be told, they felt true at the time. Nothing major had gone wrong. No one was ill. It was nothing like that. It was more of a death-by-a-thousand-cuts sort of thing. One little annoyance here. One not so little mistake in the checkbook there. A flat tire. A blown circuit. A stain on the carpet. A crying kid. I know someone out there is following me.

Here is the thing with suffering. It does not matter if someone else, looking into your situation, would declare it to be suffering. If you are in pain – then you are in pain. And what causes you pain may not bother me, but that doesn’t make it any less painful for you.

So, when looking at Job, it sometimes helps to focus less on the specifics of his trials and look at his pain. Because, well, we all have that in common.

My spirit is broken. – Job 17:1

Have you been there? Are you there now?

When we feel broken – we can not stay there. If we allow ourselves to wallow in our brokenness, to focus our gaze on the suffering instead of the savior, we may just miss our deliverance. 

Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. – Exodus 6:9

God had a plan to save his people. It was in motion and freedom was coming. But they would not listen. They could not see beyond the current struggle.

Whatever you are currently dealing with, if it has broken your spirit, I have great news for you.

The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18

He heals the broken.

He lifts the fallen.

He saves the crushed in spirit.

It’s what he does and, friend, he is really good at it.

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For the introductory post to this series, as well as an ongoing index of all the posts, just click here. —> 31 Days of Faith