Pain with a Point?

I knew it the moment I reached down to adjust the TV tray. A vise of pain suddenly started to crush my lower spine. I had once again thrown out my back.

People with frequent back problems can relate to this problem, I know. One minute you're feeling fine, and the next moment it is agony to even move, never mind walk. Since often there seems to be no rhyme or reason for an attack, it is easy to feel picked upon. I can relate to the words of the psalmist in Psalm 38:7 who cries out "My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body."

Often my back goes out at the most inconvenient moments. In my situation I've been praising God that it didn't go out during the three weeks we just spent in Africa packing up or selling off all of our belongings that we have accumulated over the last twelve years. But I do have to wonder why it had to happen when we were trying to close on our new home. It would seem on the surface like a waste of valuable time.

I find, though, that I can wallow in self-pity or turn to the One who has all the answers (and I don't mean my family doctor or osteopath, either). I know God loves me and has the best for me, so He must be allowing me to go through this trial for a reason. What can I learn from this experience that can help me be a better minister to others? Since I'm having to lie flat on my back most of the day, could God be giving me the opportunity to spend more time in intercessory prayer and/or His word? Maybe by having to depend on my family more for some of the basic things in life He is working on developing my humility (something I tend to be in short supply of, it seems). Whatever the reason or reasons may be, I don't want to waste this opportunity, no matter how painful, to learn whatever He has to teach me through it. To do otherwise would really be a waste of my time.

(Note: The cartoon above was originally published on Bryan Schaaf's Zesty Chicken Salad blog.)

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