What you are going through may feel like a mountain that will not move. The pain may be excruciating, but what you are going through is a platform for you to show forth the glory of God in the earth.
Romans 5:3-5 (The Message) There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
Nobody that I know enjoy going through trouble (no matter the reward). I don’t like being sick. I don’t like having to go through financial trouble. I don’t like to see my children walking outside of the will of God. I don’t like seeing my family member sick. I don’t like seeing my husband going through trouble. I don’t like it when a love one dies. I don’t like it when people say mean and untrue things about me. I don’t like when people dislike me for no reason. I DON’T LIKE PAIN.
When we think of pain, we think of something that is unpleasant and uncomfortable. When you think of a platform you picture a raised level surface on which people or things can stand. It is a place that puts you at a higher elevation.
However, one may ask how can pain be our platform? Everything that we go through (good and bad) is that the glory of God be revealed. Paul tells us in Romans 8:18 “ … that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” For every painful situation we endure, God will get the glory out of it. The Bible tells us that ‘ALL THINGS work together for the good of them who love God and who are the called according to His purpose.” Our pain will elevate us into places so that we can proclaim who God not ourselves. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 say, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Pressure produces great things. Gold and silver must be pressed to make jewelry. There’s a process used in making diamonds called crushing that is done below-ground mining facilities. In order to get wine, the grapes must be crushed. In order to get olive oil, the seed must be crushed.
For God’s glory to be revealed in us there must be a crushing. We will be tried in the fire. If we never had a problem, we would never know that God can solve them. If we have never been sick, we could not tell anyone that God is a healer. If we never had a need, we could never tell anyone that God is a provider. If God never brought you up and out of something, we could never tell anyone that God is a deliverer! Our pain is our platform to herald the goodness of God in our lives. God wants to use us on the platform of life. He wants to put us on a platform to show His work in our lives. He wants to elevate us to show His glory to a dying world.