I straddled my motorcycle and rode to work on a morning with the air thick with moisture. Although it wasn't raining, my clothes were damp by my arrival at work due to the high humidity that sat heavy like a light fog. I parked my bike in my normal spot under the shade of a tree and out of the way. I removed my helmet and "do-rag." I immediately felt pain on the top of my head, almost as if someone had grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked it out. But that's not what had happened. A red wasp had fallen from the tree above me onto my head and had promptly stung me before falling on to the ground. It appeared to be struggling to fly for the few seconds that it took for me to react to the unexpected sting and to stomp the wasp into the mud.
I hadn't gone near any of the areas where we'd already spotted wasps becoming active. I wasn't near anything that would normally be a wasp hang out and inspire caution. I have never seen any wasps near where I park. I didn't do anything wrong or differently than normal, but none of that mattered as I had to deal with the itching, burning and pain of the sting for the next several hours.
Life can be like that. Sometimes without provoking or causing anything ourselves we suffer the effects of a fallen world. We don't stray from our path, we're not outside of God's will for us, and yet, without warning we feel the pain of sin and evil fall on us, stinging our soul. People exercise their free will all over us, and it hurts. But people aren't wasps. When they sting and hurt us, we aren't to stomp them into the mud. We are instructed to pray for those who hurt us and bless those who curse us. Sometimes the hurts and attacks we suffer at the hands of others truly have nothing to do with us. We have no part in the instigation or cause. We simply parked in the drop zone of their pain, frustration and anger. Our part is our reaction.
If we react with love, only possible by the grace of God and the presence of the Spirit within us, we keep ourselves free from a spiritual allergic reaction that can make us sick. Sure it may still hurt for a while, but the poison doesn't have to become a part of us. We can let it go, and we can heal. And we may just find that a Godly reaction helps bring healing to the one who hurt us.
We should also remember that being hurt doesn't mean that God doesn't love us, it isn't always a case of what goes around comes around. We don't have to beat ourselves up or lose faith because it seems evil had a chance to hurt us. We're going to have trouble and pain as part of life in a fallen world. Sometimes we bring it on ourselves, and sometimes life just happens all over us. But whether we have some minor irritation and pain that heals and fades quickly or a wound that goes deep and festers and nearly kills us is not dependent upon the poison but on our reaction to it. If we can get out of the way and let God control our reaction, it will never be severe and sickening, but if we act out in the power of our own nature, the resulting pain can cause horrible pain, bitterness and misery for us even more than the one we stomp in retaliation.
Abba, help me to respond to life's difficulties and the pain others cause with the stings of their brokenness as You would have me. Soothe my wounds with Your balm and comfort me with Your love and peace. Amen
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