Distress: Painful but Good?

Here are some definitions of distress:

1.  Great pain, anxiety, or sorrow; acute physical or mental suffering; affliction; trouble.
2.  That which causes pain, suffering, trouble, danger
3.  A state of extreme necessity or misfortune

Who likes being in distress?  Yuk.  It is uncomfortable, unpleasant, and generally never a fun place to be.  But as ugly as distress feels, can it be a good thing?  Yeah, it can.  It is good when it turns our hearts back to God.

In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul says this:

"I know I distressed you greatly with my letter.  Although I felt awful at the time, I don't feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out.  The letter upset you, but only for a while.  Now I'm glad...not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around.  You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him.  The result was all gain, no loss".

"Distress that drives us to God does that.  It turns us around.  It gets us back in the way of salvation.  We never regret that kind of pain.  But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets."

"And now, isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God?  You're more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible.  Looked at from any angle, you've come out of this with purity of heart.  And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter."   (2 Corinthians 7:8-13 MSG)

Are you in a tough place?  Do you feel that distressed feeling?  Allow that to drive you to God, not away.  I'm remembering this for myself today, and also encouraging you.  Sometimes it takes seasons of distress for us to really stop and sink deep with God.  And out of that distress a deeper relationship with God is created, and in addition to that deeper relationship, we are changed from the inside out.  As the scripture states we become more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible, and have more purity of heart.  This is good.

In your distress, draw near to the Lord Jesus, and even if He doesn't change our circumstances, He changes us, and this is good!  When we turn to Him it is all gain, no loss.