The Stewardship of Pain

I taught my adult Sunday School through a series based on Jerry Bridges' book The Joy of Fearing God. Brothers and Sisters, here is a practical guide for living.

Bridges writes of a duty in the Christian life that is rarely seen as a stewardship - the stewardship of pain.

“It often seems more difficult to trust God than to obey Him. The moral will of God given to us in the Bible is rational and reasonable. The circumstances in which we trust God often appear irrational and inexplicable.” —Jerry Bridges

Our typical reactions when encountering adversity:

• God didn’t have anything to do with this


• Get angry with God


• Bear it in our own strength

Another path—the stewardship of pain

• Trust Him in your pain


• Ask for His sustaining grace


• Testify to the sufficiency of His sustaining grace


• Ask God for opportunities of ministry that our pain may bring up

If there is something this old world never seems short of, it is pain. That the Lord would have a purpose for it is one of the great sources of strength and endurance for the pilgrim walking the rocky path. If you are not in the midst of trouble now, you will be. When it comes, how will you greet it? How will you endure its visit, whether protracted or extended?

I cannot do Bridges justice in this small space. I can only hand it to the next weary walker of this guilty sod.