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As the Lord fulfills our destinies in Him and the promises He has made to us, the pain we have felt during the trials will fade away into glorious praises.
Thankful Praise Will Burst Forth from the Groans of Labor
"The king rejoices in Your strength, LORD. How great is his joy in the victories You give! You have granted him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips." (Psalm 21:1–2 NIV)
"For the king trusts in the LORD; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken." (Psalm 21:7 NIV)
As I read the above verses, the joy and praise David gave to our Lord touched me. He thanked God for the great blessings He had given him. God answered his prayers and gave him the desires of his heart.
The thankful praise that burst forth from David's heart seems a million miles away from the psalms he wrote in the midst of his trial. In the middle of his tribulation, he wrote psalms that expressed his misery and pain. He questioned if God were even with him: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?" (Psalm 22:1 BSB).
He groaned, because he did not see the Lord answering his prayers: "I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest" (Psalm 22:2 BSB). His misery was great, like that of a pregnant woman in the midst of labor.
In the midst of a woman's labor, she feels as though she cannot last, as though her pain is too great to bear. She does not care what anyone else thinks. She is in misery. But moments after it is all over and she has that beautiful baby in her hands, she begins to lose sight of her pain. She feels much like David did in Psalm 21:1, when he said, "The king rejoices in Your strength, LORD. How great is his joy in the victories You give!" (Psalm 21:1 NIV). Her joy overshadows her hours of grief, and the great pain she felt pales in comparison to the exuberant joy and peace she feels once the baby is delivered. (Photo via Freerange Stock)
Cailie-Ellen Is Born
When my fourth child was born, I went through a terrible ordeal. I had delivered three other children before her, and none of them were easy deliveries. But they failed to compare to the extraordinary pain I had when giving birth to her. For hours they induced my labor until all I could do was cry. I did not care who saw me, nor did I care what they thought. I was in agonizing pain and, indeed, she was finally taken by cesarean section. I remember very little of being taken into surgery, but I do remember there were people all around me. I am not one who likes to let others see me cry, but at that moment, I did not care. I bawled.
However, even with all the pain, I can say that it did not compare to the joy I had when the doctor announced, "It's a girl!" I had been given the desire of my heart, and at that moment my trial had been rendered powerless. I felt as David felt when he said, "You have granted him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips" (Psalm 21:2 NIV).
None of the pain I had endured mattered, because God had answered my prayer. Cailie-Ellen Shirley was born. She was beautiful, healthy, and perfect. She was the one bright spot during a very dark time in my life. God was faithful to me, and I could say as David did, "Through the victories You gave, his glory is great; You have bestowed on him splendor and majesty" (Psalm 21:5 NIV).
Don't Let Go of Your Promise! You Will Not Be Disappointed
As the Lord fulfills our destinies in Him and the promises He has made to us, the pain we have felt during the trials will fade away into glorious praises. As a woman in labor knows her pain will produce a baby, we have the knowledge that our pain will produce the promise of the Lord. We will give birth to our destinies.
David sings a song of mourning and grief in Psalm 22, yet in the midst of his trial and pain, he praises God: "Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed" (Psalm 22:3–5 BSB).
David reminded himself that his forefathers had trusted in God and were not disappointed. He praised God for His faithfulness, even in the midst of his misery.
There is a certain misery in trusting God when the waves of doubt flood through our souls. However, we "must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" (James 1:6 NIV). (Photo via Unsplash)
We must not doubt, and we must not let go of the promise of our destiny in Him. We must stay on course and not be turned to the right or left. The trying of our faith in Him will produce endurance—strength that we will need later on in life (James 1:3). With every battle we endure, we grow stronger in Him.
There are times when we, like David, cannot hear the voice of our God (Psalm 22:2). He seems to be silent, and we wonder if He still intends to fulfill the promise He has made to us. These are critical moments when our trust in Him is indeed tested, when doubts begin to pelt us like hailstones. Should we retreat like the double-minded man in James 1:8 and change course, or should we proceed, trusting in our God?
We must stay on course! We must trust in Him! We must not change our direction from the last instructions we have received from Him. We know that trials will come, but "blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life" (James 1:12 BSB).
Pain Transformed Into the Sweetest Praises
Beloved, keep on believing; keep on trusting! Stay on course and, surely as an expectant mother, your pain will produce the promise. Keep trusting and keep praising Him, whether you feel like it or not. The richest gift you can give to your heavenly Father is to praise Him in the midst of your pain. Trust Him when you cannot see an answer, because "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17 NIV).
The pain you now feel will be transformed into the sweetest of praises to our God. Your sorrow will be turned into joy. "Through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken" (Psalm 21:7 NIV). He will turn your mourning into dancing and the rejection you have experienced into strength through trusting in God. David experienced this, and you will too!
Pray this with me: Dear Father, open my eyes and my heart to receive vision and passion from my trials so that I may receive grace from Heaven to press on through this journey and find my destiny in You.
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Victoria Boyson
Victoria Boyson Ministries
Email:Â victoria@boyson.org
Website:Â www.victoriaboyson.com
Victoria Boyson is the founder of Victoria Boyson Ministries and Women of the Spirit. She is dedicated to raising up an army of powerfully equipped Believers who will revolutionize their world and bring in the harvest. Victoria is passionate about the Church operating in the extraordinary authority Christ won for them and to awaken Believers to their victorious reality. Through revelations of the Holy Spirit and the Word, she and her family are breaking down strongholds which have kept the Church from fully realizing the Great Commission. Victoria travels and speaks throughout the US. Based out of the Houston, Texas area, she lives with her husband and together they have four grown children. She is the author of Revolution: The White Horse Rider, God's Magnum Opus: The Value of a Woman, Awakening: The Deep Sleep, His Passionate Pursuit: God's Passion to Captivate Your Heart, and The Birth of Your Destiny.
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