Worship through Pain

Wednesday night's sermon for the kids, and the lesson in life group, focused on worshipping through pain. I thought it was a touching lesson, and very, very important for the kids to hear. I can only wish I had connected those dots when I was younger. The truth of the matter is that everyone will face pain and struggle on some scale in their lifetime. How we react to pain is the key factor. It's all about the attitude I guess. David, in the Psalms, was not always a happy camper. He would ask God why. He would tell God he felt alone. But he never closed the conversation. He kept an open dialogue to God through his prayers and songs.

I think a lot of times people expect prayer to be a magic bullet, slaying all dangers and woes. It doesn't work like that. And because one can't use God as a vending machine of miracles, people get angry and ask, "why should I worship God? He doesn't do anything for me!" This is pretty far from the truth, but we are all kind of like little mean kids sometimes. I think if we teach our children that we will suffer in our lives, but God still loves us. They should also know pain is how we grow, and maybe the dots will line up, and they won't become "vending machine" Christians.

So many of the intellectual atheists I know congratulate themselves on not "falling for" all the talk of God's love, and how He moves through our lives on a daily basis. They view the Bible as a mass delusion. phht! whatever. I think many of the intellectual atheists around my age were taken to church as children. For whatever reason this wasn't always a positive experience, and they never got over it. Or, they were vending machine Christians who didn't understand that our faith can and will be tested. So when their faith was tested, they walked away. It is much, much easier to walk away from your Christianity.

So hopefully we planted some seeds this week which our kids will carry around with them until life throws them a curve ball. Let's face it, middle school is tough. There is status at school, and how you look, and all those hormones. It's a big bowl of crazy soup. Hopefully, when that curveball comes, whether it be a bully, or something at home, the kids will remember they can talk to God No Matter What. It's a good lesson for me as well.