Pain and Gain

Pain and Gain

Bible: Psalm 32

Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him (V.10) .

Reading

During a summer football camp, the team coaches wore T-shirts with a message. The words read: “Each day you must choose: the pain of hard work or the pain of regret .” They wanted to get their team to put in as much effort as possible each day!

Hard work and discipline are often things we don’t want to do . But in sport and in life, the short-term pain of effort is often the only way to do better in the long run . It’s too late to get ready for tough times and challenges once they’ve come along . We need to be in training before the hard times come . Too often we’re left saying “What if”, “If only” and “I should’ve” . That’s the pain of regret .

It’s painful to look back at our choices and see things we could have done better and problems we didn’t need to have gone through . This was how one psalm writer felt: “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him” (PS. 32:10) . By looking back on his mistakes, he saw how much better it was to live a life that trusts God every day . That’s the kind of training we need to be ready for the problems that will be thrown our way . If we’re walking closely with Him and relying on Him for everything we need, we don’t have to have lives full of regret .

WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S AROUND THE CORNER—BUT WALKING WITH GOD MEANS WE’LL BE READY TO FACE IT.

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries