God Won’t Waste Your Pain

God Won’t Waste Your Pain Through Every Season

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to spend time in Rome. It’s hard to explain how full of history and beauty that city is. My inner nerd would flare in every direction at some museum, building, or historical site. Throw in the maybe sinful amount of espressos I was drinking to help handle the jet lag and I’m sure I was wearing out some of my friends who were with me. In a tour of the Vatican, we walked through the Gallery of the Tapestries—an 800-foot-long room with wall-to-wall tapestries depicting scenes from the life of Jesus. The woman giving the tour talked a bit about where each tapestry came from and how they were made. I was shocked to see that behind the beautiful images, the backs were a knotted mess—beauty brought forth from the messes. That’s what Jesus is up to. In Isaiah 61 the prophet says that Jesus would comfort those who mourn, turn things that have burned to ash into things of beauty, and turn despair into joy.

How Jesus Forms Us Through the Beatitudes

In Matthew 5:3–10, we see what Jesus is up to in our lives and what He is committed to accomplishing. These eight verses are called the Beatitudes. It’s important to note that Jesus didn’t come to find these kinds of people but rather to make them over time. These are not eight different kinds of people; they are eight things Jesus is committed to growing in each of our lives.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

God Won’t Waste Your Pain Because His Kingdom Is Here

In Matthew 4:23–25 we see Jesus preaching the Kingdom of God. Heaven has invaded earth; the future has come into the present. All that Isaiah 61 said would happen is happening. Diseases are being healed, demons are being driven out, hope is being restored, lives are being put back together. The Kingdom is the foundation on which the Beatitudes are built.

Each of these eight traits are preceded by the word “blessed”—it is what the Greek word makarios, which means “happy,” translates to. Happy are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted because of righteousness.

I think our modern translation of happy is inadequate to hold the weight of this word in ancient Greece. We think of happiness as a subjective feeling tied to life’s circumstances. It’s why “happy are those who mourn” doesn’t make sense. I like to differentiate between happiness and biblical joy. The Bible speaks of joy transcending life’s circumstances.

In Acts 5 we read of the disciples rejoicing after being beaten by the Sanhedrin (Jewish high court). That’s joy, not happiness. In Job 1 we see Job lose everything, tear his clothes, and worship God. That’s joy, not happiness. This is more like what’s in view in the Beatitudes—a joy born of knowing and trusting God rather than a subjective feeling.

God Won’t Waste Your Pain During Difficult Seasons

I know this firsthand, as over the past thirty-three years following Jesus, I have experienced that deep joy promised by God through a difficult seven-year season in my marriage, “terminal” brain cancer, betrayal, and significant slander. I spend a lot of time with Christians who feel like they are losing heart or feeling thin in the journey. Part of that is the misunderstanding of progressive sanctification as being up and to the right.

If you are judging how you’re doing by victories and losses, then joy is nearly impossible. Every stumble, hardship, or failure will make you move away from the beauty of the gospel and the reality that there is nothing that has happened in your past, no present struggle, and no future concern that Jesus wants distance from. Remember, He wants all of you: mind, body, and soul.

God Uses Every High and Low to Make Us Like Jesus

What if I told you that becoming like Jesus is more like a coil laid horizontally, where every high and every low is moving you forward and being used by God to transform you into the blessed people we read about in the Beatitudes? That might change how you view the different seasons of life, wouldn’t it?

If God was using the current sorrow or present difficulty you are enduring to grow you into a blessed life, and Jesus was intimately with you in it, that might help you inherit the promises found in the text. Here’s another fun fact about those second lines in the Beatitudes. Almost all English translations will read, “for theirs is” or “for they shall.” A better translation would be “for theirs and theirs alone is the Kingdom” or “they and they alone will be comforted.” Jesus makes this promise to those who follow Him all the way home.

Matt Chandler has served as the lead pastor of The Village Church in the Dallas–Fort Worth area for over twenty years and is the executive chairman of Acts 29, a global church-planting network. He is known for his clear, gospel-centered preaching, deep commitment to biblical theology, and passion for forming healthy disciples and churches. Matt is also an author, speaker, and podcast host, and has spent decades helping believers follow Jesus with courage, humility, and conviction in everyday life. He is married to his wife, Lauren, and together they have three children.