Lord, Use My Misery For Your Glory

“The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.'” Exodus 3:7 

  

  It is the miserable times of my illness that are so challenging. There is the average “everyday bad”, and then there is the “miserable bad” days. Those miserable bad days really make me want to give the devil a black eye. It’s my hope that God can somehow use all that misery for His glory, that instead of me falling to my knees in pain and suffering, I can rise up and glorify God in the midst of my suffering. 

  Sometimes a bad mood trickling into my life becomes a raging torrent. 

  One of my favorite bands is a group named “Skillet”. The band has a song called “Monster” that speaks of “sometimes feeling like a monster.” Our illnesses can do that to us, make us feel inhuman. Our afflictions can drag us down into painful, miserable moods, and lead our minds down dark pathways. We seriously need help from above to redeem such times. 

  One of these days maybe the devil will learn his lesson. The more he hits me, the more I’m going to turn it to God’s purposes. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than punching the devil in the eye. More times than I can count the devil has whispered: You are not going to make it. But as always, he is a liar, and I’m still here praising God. And when the enemy comes to his final end, I’ll be there praising God in my glorified body, and so will you. 

  But today can be miserable, these bodies wracked with pain, moods dark and depressed, it can be a struggle getting from one day to the next. We need help from above, we need strength from God for spiritual warfare to protect our hearts and minds from the arrows of the enemy, and we need the satisfaction of a counter strike against our enemy. Often it is when we are our weakest that we are the most effective as witnesses to the glory of God. 

  The enemy does not understand the paradox that out of weakness comes strength. Sometimes the best things in life start out bitter and disappointing only to become our greatest moments and experiences. Dark days can be our greatest opportunities to witness about what God can do. 

  Sometimes life gets ugly and painful. And it seems the devil has a knack of showing up when you are weakest. When our Lord Jesus was weakest the devil came to tempt Him, so it should be no surprise that when we are down the enemy strikes at us. 

  I would encourage you to counter strike by praising God in the midst of your pain. Refuse to see yourself as a misshapen monster no matter how you may feel, you are a son or daughter of the Most High God. So, find a way to praise Him, to bless God by ministering to others in the midst of your affliction, especially when you are hit the hardest by the enemy. 

  The grace of God is an awesome thing. It may seem impossible for you to believe that God can use your weakness, your constant illness, and even worsening condition to somehow do good in this world. While your illness may not be a good thing, God working in and through you is always a good thing. It may just be that in the midst of your weakest times God has more room to maneuver and minister through your life. 

  Don’t let today pass by without praising the Lord. Give God glory for what He has already done in your life, and then allow Him to take your pain and misery and make your weakness His strength. Allow Him to take your misery and turn it into a witness of what God’s glorious grace can do. 

  Prayer: Dear Lord, use our pain for Your glory, use our misery to give the devil a black eye and lift Your name high! Amen.