Magdy Samuel

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"Peace amid Pain"

Last Published Devotions

Peace amid Pain

“Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4: 19)

   Through my service and practice I feel that we are in the last days, for the whole creature groans and travails in pain; young and old, rich and poor … Yes, we are in the last days, the days of pain and anguish, the days of misery and suffering, but I believe that with the pain there is hope.

   The Lord promised that in the world we will have tribulation, but He also said “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16: 33). We can use those words of Jesus to title the first epistle of Paul, as the epistle of “Peace amid pain”.

   This message does not mean that pain is forbidden for the believers, the Lord did not say, I have spoken to you, that in the world you may have peace, but that in Me you may have peace. Amid our pains there is peace.

How could we experience the true peace amid the pain?
What is the Christian treatment for the human sufferings?

   There are two curing epistles, the epistle to the Philippians is the Christian cure for depression, while the first epistle of Peter is the Christian treatment of pain, as the words “Suffer and Pain” are mentioned the most in this epistle. 

 The word pain and its synonyms are mentioned 16 times, while the word glory and its synonyms are mentioned 17 times in this epistle. So when we read the word pain or suffering we expect to read the word glory there after. “The sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1Peter 1: 11). There is no pain without glory.

   I’m not speaking about analgesics to ease our pain and make us lose our conscious  or to let us live in a world of imagination, but I say by the grace of God and through God's word, that amid the pain there is not only condolences, there is glory.  You might be in pain, in need, indigent and in troubles, but you are enjoying glory. You were born for glory and are enjoying glory and also glory awaits you.

   The more I approach this epistle, the more I bow in front of it, it has an amazing depth, and it’s a full-fledged prescription for the treatment of pain. It is a remedy and cure to everyone who is in pain or suffering, either physically, psychologically or spiritually. It is for the young and old, those who have acute pain or chronic pain, those suffering from the friends and loved ones or strangers and enemies, those who suffer from the hand of the Lord or the machinations of the devil. It is a broad-spectrum and long acting medicine that fits for all our pains and our sufferings. So we will not meditate on this epistle verse by verse, but we will extract some effective medications that cure the depths of our beings. So let us trust in our God and His word that heals. "He sent His word and healed them" (Psalm 107: 20).

Do you want to subdue sadness and get over your pain?
Do you want to enjoy the peace of Christ?

Magdy Samuel