Thank You for the Sting (Friday Devotional)

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

- James 1:2-3

The other night when I was putting Katherine to bed, I suddenly heard loud, shrill cries ring out from Andrew’s room. Curious and concerned, I went to see what was going on. When I walked into the room, Lindsey explained to me that she was getting ready to put hydrogen peroxide on a nasty scrape on Andrew’s knee and that he had screamed because he knew it was going to hurt. With equal kindness and firmness, she assured him of two things: 1) he was right, it was going to sting for a moment, but 2) after the initial pain, the medicine would help his knee start to heal.

I went back to Katherine, and a few minutes later we all regrouped for books and bedtime prayers.  When it came time for Andrew to say a prayer, he offered up his typical thanksgiving for his grandparents and for trains. But at the tail end of his prayer came something I wasn’t expecting: “And God, thank you for the sting that’s making me better.

That’s not a prayer we say often, if ever. Nobody likes pain. Nobody likes struggle. Nobody likes difficulty. Even if we can acknowledge that there are things to be learned from life’s rougher patches, we’re never eager to learn those lessons firsthand. We’d much rather be comfortable.

But one of the most difficult lessons that the cross of Jesus Christ has to teach us is that in order to redeem the brokenness of this world, a price must be paid. Not every victory is won without pain. Sometimes we must experience not only life’s joys, but also its travails, to mature in faith. 

But the hope of Christ is that life’s stings are momentary, that the cross is a prelude to the empty tomb, that on the other side of earthly struggle is eternal life. The Bible goes so far as to say that when we face trials, we can consider them to be “nothing but joy,” knowing that God is capable of turning darkness into light, that from the testing of faith comes endurance and maturity.

It’s a difficult teaching to accept, far easier in the abstract than in lived reality. But if you keep your eyes fixed on the crucified Savior whose death gave you life, you can say the powerful prayer of a child: God, thank you for the sting that’s making me better.