God Knows My Pain

  My son made the decision to leave home just shy of his 18^th birthday.  I was devastated.  He wasn’t moving across town or even to the next state; he would be over 1800 miles away.  He chose to walk away from a secure financial college setting and go into a world of total unknowns.  There was just one thing he was absolutely certain of, he explained: “South Dakota is calling my name.”  As odd as that may seem, I understood when he said those words.  They resonated with my own feelings of that area.  Understanding, however, didn’t lessen the pain of his leaving.  

Joseph’s early adult life had already been filled with surprises.  First he was told to take for his bride a woman who was already pregnant, which was unheard of in those days.  He also discovers the child she is carrying is God’s son.   

Then Joseph received the warning from an angel that he should leave the area where he now lived and journey back to his hometown of Bethlehem.  There he found no room at the inn once he and Mary arrived.  It must have seemed ironic.   The child is born in a manger, an unlikely place for a new birth.   Can it get stranger than this?  

Still Joseph kept his heart and mind open to the Lord.  So when the command came to escape to Egypt, Joseph knew God knew what he was talking about!  Joseph listened.  God had already provided for them sanctuary in a stable; and was now providing sanctuary from King Herod in the unlikely place of Egypt.

God called his son from this place (Egypt), as prophesied in Hosea 11.  (See Matthew 2:13) He called his son out of a place where God’s laws were ignored.  He calls our name from a world of sin if we listen for it.  We then must accept this gift and be obedient to the call.   Symbolically Jesus being called out of Egypt demonstrates the new covenant of Grace.  We are no longer under the law.  It is a new beginning through Christ Jesus which leads us out of sin and death through Grace.  His life would begin with escaping the cruelness of Herod to be thrust into Egypt, but he would endure an even greater cruelness on the cross as he carried the weight of all our sins. 

My heart ached when my son left home.  God’s heart and all the angels must have been broken when Jesus left heaven to come to earth as human, knowing that his leaving meant an even greater sacrifice: his death.  Yet there is joy, because it was through this selfless act that we can know God and live an eternity with him if we accept his greatest gift: His only Son. We can not fail, as we would under the law, unless we choose to turn away from the gift of salvation by faith through Grace.

Have you ever felt intense pain from a loss?  Many of us have.  How do you deal with your pain?  Some lash out, become angry, cry, withdraw, vent or a react a dozen other ways a person deals with grief.  Have you ever considered that God feels your pain?  He knows where your heart is and wants to comfort you.

Most of us know someone who is going through a tough time because of divorce, or even death.  Perhaps a mother is facing the pain and fear as I did, about a child going off to college, or moving to another state because of a career.  What can you do to ease the pain of those hurting?  It might be as easy as a phone call or sending a card.  It might be visiting and allowing them to share their pain while you listen. Bring your thoughts before the Lord and ask for his guidance, and then like Joseph, be obedient.

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."   Matthew 2:14-15   

Photo Credit: Sadness and Pain