The RSD pain has been almost unbearable lately. It is 4:30am. I have been up and down all night. Walking was difficult yesterday. Now the shooting pain is in my knees. The pain almost defines who I am, and I don’t want it to. I am more then my pain. I have so many blessings in life, and then the pain comes and I go into my shell.
The lady we live with had a wonderful husband. He was always positive and smiling. I was with him when he died. He was diabetic since he was a teenager. She said that he never complained of pain. He didn’t acknowledge it, although he surely had pain. It makes me feel guilty to admit that I have pain. Maybe he acknowledged it within, but he didn’t want to burden her with it, or maybe she wasn’t strong enough to take it. I wish I knew his secret. It doesn’t make him any more of a saint...Jesus, Paul and many of the strong people of the faith acknowledged that they had pain that was difficult to bear. They cried out to God to take it away.
I am preaching this Sunday on the “Persistent Widow”. She cried out day and night about the injustice she was experiencing. And she is held up as one who had “faithfulness on the earth.” Prayer doesn’t change the purpose of God, but it does change the action of God. The Bible clearly shows that to be true. Complaining isn’t a sin...sometimes not complaining is. That’s one of the lessons of the parable in Luke 18:1-8. The widow received help ONLY because she complained persistently. That goes against all of the “self-help” messiah’s of the day. The “persistent widow” was just supposed to accept her lot in life and be quiet about it. That is the opposite of the “faithfulness” lesson given in the parable.
Don’t let it define you, but If you don’t acknowledge it, then you aren’t praying about it. If you accept it, you are accepting injustice. I shouldn’t wear my family down with my complaints. But being silent about them doesn’t make someone a saint. It is the opposite of what Scripture teaches.
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