As always, the first signs of true spiritual growth are rarely beautiful. They come not as inspiration or peace, but as a kind of corrosion. What’s familiar will become unbearable.
But what you may not notice is that this erosion may be the origin of God. That dissatisfaction – slow, slow, uncomfortable, is the beginning of hearing God again, bent your way, and synchronizing your soul with the rhythm of his vision, the plans of your life.
Of course, there are many types of complaints. The little varieties born from comparisons and the creeping poison of modern life. Consumer complaints about advertisers using it accurately: your home is not modern enough. But that’s not the kind we’re talking about here. There is a deeper dissatisfaction. Something quiet. Arrived without notice. There are no screams or requests. It simply waits. It floats in the silence between duties. It’s not pain, it often shrugs.
It happens when something within us refuses to resolve something that was always sufficient. It seems that God rarely calls people to stay. Even when they desperately wanted. He makes things uncomfortable for us. Not violent, but permanent.
As Christians, we often imagine God as a comforter. However, the comfort he offers is rarely soft. It is the kind that keeps us upright in the trials of life. Forcing us to dodge the storm that precedes us is not something that it faces directly. I went through my own struggles. Indeed, despite the shadows of yesterday, the grace that continues life only proves God’s faithfulness and quiet but steady comfort.
When a familiar one becomes a cage
It’s difficult to leave something that worked. Whether it is a physical place, belief, or way of being. When the Israelites were freed, they longed to return to Egypt. Slavery has been their rhythm, comfort. The wilderness was open and too empty, waiting. They lost sight of what was prepared for them on the other side, the promised land, flowing with milk and honey.
The blessing of anxiety
If God loves us, why not put us in peace? Why not allow us to be dull and satisfy our routine? But the kind of peace we are eager to await is not the same as numbness. And numbness is what we calmed down.
What we call peace may be a kind of spiritual inertia. Life is completely padded and nothing is in it. It’s not a doubt, it’s not awe, it’s not a mission in our lives, nor is it God. What we fear is not that God may speak. We are afraid that he already has and that we ignored him.
So, grievance is a form of mercy. It makes us uneasy. I whisper before I scream. This holy pain is not God’s absence. That’s his point.
Moses grew up in luxury and was educated in the finest Egyptian ideas surrounded by structure and power. But he refuses to let something be relieved. It starts at a glance with the Egyptian security guards being too cruel, the Hebrew slaves being too silent. He can’t see it. And he acts clumsy. When we first stand up to the life-rising of injustice, as many do.
He runs away. I haven’t spent years of my time spending my notes. Grazing sheep everywhere and everywhere. But here’s something that most people don’t get. God did not see him in the palace. He met the unclear Moses.
The burning bushes are not unusual. That’s what happens when a man is prepared by a long disappointment. The fire of the call must come after the ashes of disillusionment. The disgruntled Moses was carried and not erased in the wilderness. That was revealed. He missed power, so he did not return to Egypt. He returned as the pain matured into submission.
How pain is the answer
In many cases, hearing pain is a risk of change. To leave a version of yourself that is manageable, acceptable, and even praised. There is no name yet to move towards something without form. Faith in such moments is less about the answer and more about motivation. It is trusted that anxiety is not a detour, but a doorway to our mission in life, and that even if it feels out of our depths, it is a doorway to surrender and surrender to God’s call.
Don’t hurry up in the wilderness
Therefore, once you realize your restlessness, there is always this temptation to get away immediately. Rebranding, rebooting, reinventing. Our culture praises our actions. However, mental transformation rarely occurs at that rate. You sit in the middle. You will grow beyond your old life like your favorite sweater that doesn’t fit suddenly, but the new ones are not sewn together yet.
This is a desert. This is where the illusion is peeled off. It’s where motivation is tested. Many people do not survive it spiritually. They return to Egypt. But for those who stay, those who dare to ask God what this pain means, the desert becomes something completely different.
It will become a sacred place.
So, if you are restless, it’s not more than reality, and perhaps this is not a flaw to fix, but a call to follow. Don’t interpret it in a hurry. Please do not own due to noise. Let me talk. If necessary, try not to bear it.
Because sometimes pain isn’t the problem.
Sometimes, that’s the answer.
We often forget that by choice, if faith is alive, it must move. Not necessarily in new cities or careers, but deep in yourself. Where we avoided or refused. Let’s be honest. To submission that costs something. And it almost always begins with an unpleasant feeling that we cannot explain. It’s just a sharp and quiet realization that something has to change.
If you are one of them, you just joined the people of the long-time people who heard God in pain rather than victory.
The struggle for transition can be debilitating at first, but pushing forward with fear and indecision causes things to slip into place. And reward? They are nothing but the extraordinary things that are gained by your courage, faith, and obedience to the only person who can move you forward on the mission of your life.
Remember Moses, who is as sick as the lamb. But he was brave enough to go to Egypt, confront the Pharaohs, and to be the leader of God’s people, faithfully and loyal, respected and lived a life of purpose.
Remember Abraham, despite threw himself into something unfamiliar, kept in mind God’s call. He eventually became the father of many nations and acquired the distinction of being called by God as his friend.
Think of Ruth. She chose to leave her hometown, her people, and her future in everything familiar, and walk the uncertain path of sacrifice. Her sacrifice ultimately led her to an unexpected bounty. She belonged to God’s people, and found a place within the Messianic lineage through Boaz.
Your life mission may not be as grand as Moses or Abraham. It may not come with a burning bush or a sea of farewell, but it is not insignificant. Maybe you haven’t led thousands through the wilderness, but you’re leading in quiet ways, such as sharing God’s Word with your neighbor, friends, or office mates, funding small church projects, teaching children Bible lessons at school on Sundays, preaching the gospel on city streets, or going abroad to share God’s love.
God is leading you as you move onto the path. These words from the Bible, regardless of size or size, have led his faithful servants from the past to date, are a guarantee of his faithfulness.
“Did I not command you? Be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid, for your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Smileus
