God Redeems Our Pain 弥补伤痛
Dexu Xia
The Lord bless him! . . . That man is our close relative. Ruth 2:20
Olive watched her friend loading her dental equipment into his car. A fellow dentist, he’d bought the brand-new supplies from her. Having her own practice had been Olive’s dream for years, but when her son Kyle was born with cerebral palsy, she realized she had to stop working to care for him.
“If I had a million lifetimes, I’d make the same choice,” my friend told me. “But giving up dentistry was difficult. It was the death of a dream.”
We often go through difficulties we can’t understand. For Olive, it was the heartache of her child’s unexpected medical condition and relinquishing her own ambitions. For Naomi, it was the heartache of losing her entire family. In Ruth 1:21 she lamented, “The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
But there was more to Naomi’s story than what she could see. God didn’t abandon her; He brought restoration by providing her with a grandson, Obed (Ruth 4:17). Obed would not only carry on the name of Naomi’s husband and son, but through him, she would be a relative of an ancestor (Boaz) of Jesus Himself (Matthew 1:5, 16).
God redeemed Naomi’s pain. He also redeemed Olive’s pain by helping her begin a ministry for children with neurological conditions. We may experience seasons of heartache, but we can trust that as we obey and follow God, He can redeem our pain. In His love and wisdom, He can make good come out of it.
How has God redeemed your trials in the past? How is He encouraging you in your present difficulties?
Dear God, thank You that You’re redeeming the painful stories of my life.
愿那人蒙耶和华赐福，⋯⋯那是我们本族的人，是一个至近的亲属。—路得记2章20节
爱丽看着朋友将她的牙科设备全都搬上车。这位朋友也是一名牙医，买下了爱丽全新的设备。多年来，拥有自己的诊所一直是爱丽的梦想，但是当她的儿子凯凯生来就有脑性麻痹症，她理解自己必须停止工作，全时间来照顾他。
爱丽说：“即使让我重新做选择，我还是会做同样的决定。但是放弃做牙医真的令我心碎，我的梦想破灭了。”
我们常常经历难以理解的艰难困境。对爱丽来说，孩子意想不到的疾病令她心如刀割，她还必须忍痛放弃自己的梦想。对拿俄米而言，丧夫丧子使她痛彻心扉，她甚至哀伤地说：“耶和华降祸与我。”（路得记1章21节）
在拿俄米伤心绝望时，上帝赐给她出乎意料的福分。上帝没有离弃她，还让她绝户再兴，有了孙子俄备得（4章17节）。俄备得不仅继承拿俄米夫家的姓氏，而且还让拿俄米成为耶稣的先祖波阿斯的亲属（马太福音1章5、16节）。
上帝弥补了拿俄米的伤痛。祂也弥补爱丽的伤痛，让爱丽发起一个事工，去服事那些患有神经系统疾病的孩子。我们或许会遭遇痛苦患难，但我们可以仰赖上帝，只要顺服与跟随祂，祂必会弥补我们的伤痛。满有慈爱与智慧的上帝，能使我们从苦难中得益处。
上帝曾如何弥补你过去所遭遇的试炼？
现在祂如何鼓励你面对眼前的困境？
亲爱的上帝，谢谢祢弥补了我生命中的各种伤痛。