February 17

I may be wrong, but I could almost swear I heard a demon open my bedroom door, just before 10 PM last night, and whisper the following: "Yoo-hoo, Mr. 'captivating, lovely discipline of drawing near to God,' have we got a surprise for you. " And then the hourly beep of my watch on the bedstand, catapulting me into a waking condition that lasted for three hours.

At least, I think the demons were behind that beep. Or maybe I just forgot to shut off the hourly alarm feature. Anyhoo. Same difference.

Needless to say, my time with God this morning was neither captivating nor lovely. But that's the way it goes.

Take it from someone who's been around the block a couple of times, life has its up's and life has its down's. We live in a broken universe that, according to Romans 8:21, will only be healed when it is brought into the freedom of the glory of God's children. (By the way, there will be no insomnia in that universe.)

Meanwhile, believers experience tragic situations that will never change, no matter how much they pray for relief, and other situations that will change, but oh, so slowly, and only with overwhelming amounts of pain. I think of my friend Robert Dawkins. God never promised anything different.

But he did promise that he will be with us through the situation. And that he will be enough. And that, both here and on the other side, the pain will ultimately bring great glory to God and profound joy to us.

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, entitled simply "Through."

When I saw what lay before me
"Lord," I cried, "What will you do?"
I thought he would just remove it,
But he gently led me through.
Without fire, there's no refining,
Without pain, no relief.
Without flood, there's no rescue,
Without testing, no belief.
Through the fire, through the flood,
Through the water, through the blood,
Through the dry and barren places,
Through life's dense and maddening mazes,
Through the pain and through the glory,
Through will always tell the story
Of a God whose power and mercy
Will not fail to take us through.