The Truth Behind Pain

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.
They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:
"I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.
Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?
Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.
I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start a argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.
He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:
"You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber.
"I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"
"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me."
"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!
That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help.
That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

how often do we think this way, like the barber? how often do we think in a time of hurt and pain, that God is non-existent? the He is not there, or doesn't care?

in my time of ministry, and my time as a professing Christian, i have been asked many times why a loving God would allow such bad, hurtful and destructive situations happen in our lives. i mean, He is a God who loves, so why would He allow it? for the longest time to be honest i didn't have an answer. in my mind, it was God and He could do whatever He wanted, because He knows what is best for us. now, i still believe this, but i think there is more to it.

i think there is a good point made in this little story. i have noticed in my life, that often when i start to drift from God, my life gets screwed up. i am in pain, i get depressed, lonely, etc. the truth is i am not alone, but it is because i allow sin to take control of my life, I cut myself off from God. the story talks about coming to God, or a lack of it that causes pain. i agree, but i think there is more to it.

see, i believe God knows what is best for me. and i believe that as a follower, i should be continually growing. there is not a neutral position, you are either growing closer or farther or or from God. i have noticed in my life, that it is in the times of pain and hurt that i grow the most, that God uses those times to open my eyes to see the real me and convict me in such a powerful way, that to say no is to kill myself. i believe God allows these times to come upon us because it is what is best for us. when God strips away all my dependence on people and stuff, and i am naked. but He is there.

God is not non-existent as the barber claimed. He is there, and He is full of love and mercy and grace and forgiveness. sometimes we need to get our act together and seek Him, other times we need to except the times of pain and grow, let God strip us naked and expose our faults, and then repent.

next time you are in pain, examine your relationship. either way, we should be seeking God above all else, and before anything else when we are in pain and suffering. seek, have faith.....He is there.