PAIN - Dag Heward-Mills

READ: Isaiah 53:1-12


Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.


1 Peter 4:19, NASB






Have you ever wondered why the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was described as sweet smelling to God? You would have thought that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross would present a detestable, disgusting and repugnant scent to God. Yet He calls it a sweet-smelling savour.


Amazingly , it pleases God for you to experience some suffering. I thought of the Scripture, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him” and said to myself, “This must be a mistake.” I asked some questions, “How could the Lord be pleased to bruise Jesus? How could God be happy when His Son is suffering? Which parent would be happy for his child to suffer?”


Yet I remembered when my children were going to boarding school. I knew they were going to encounter things they had never experienced before. I knew they were going to scrub, weed and work like never before. They would have to wake up early and work to a certain routine. I also knew they were going to suffer at the hands of wicked seniors. And yet, I was pleased to send them to this boarding school. Why was I pleased to send them to this school even though they were going to experience some hardship and suffering?


You see, there were lessons of life I had tried to teach them when they were at home. They did not seem to grasp or imbibe some of the things I was telling them. It was time for the hardships of unprotected life to step in and teach them what we as parents couldn’t.