“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)

Before stepping onto the basketball court, I began to stretch my legs and arms in preparation for the game. As I began to stretch, there was a certain degree of pain or discomfort associated with the stretching. However, I understood that the discomfort was an indicator that my muscles were indeed being stretched.

Although pleasure is what I would have liked to experience, I knew that the discomfort was necessary for the stretching to be effective. Finishing the game free of injury assured me that there is good in discomfort.

If we are honest, all of us would like to experience pleasure every day of our lives. We would love everything we ever wanted to come to pass in our time. We would want everything to go our way.  However, when we come to a difficult point and we don’t know what to do next, our faith seems to diminish because we are now uncomfortable.

As God’s children, we must understand that God works best in us when we are uncomfortable. Many of us are in situations where things just don’t feel right.  Things are not going the way we would like them to and so we become frustrated and wonder if we are doing the right thing. Nevertheless, God doesn’t want us to allow our “feelings” to affect our faith.  The discomfort is necessary for God to usher us to where He wants us to be.

That’s “The Good of Discomfort.”

© 2005 Timothy Jackson, Jr.