March 1, 2026 - How to Respond Positively to Life's Most Painful Moments - Pastor Paul Vallee

Erwin Lutzer, former Pastor of Moody Memorial Church, received a letter from a radio listener years ago, in which he wrote: ‘I am a man, thirty-one years of age and divorced, though I fought the divorce bitterly. I feel bad because I have no hope for the future.  Often, I go home from church and cry, but there is no one to hold me when I cry. No one cares. What hurts most is that I have begged God for the grace to be single for His glory and to fix my eyes on Jesus, but nothing changes. I continue to fail. I am a basket case emotionally and on the verge of collapse. Something is very wrong. I’m so crippled and embittered that I can scarcely relate to others anymore. I feel that I will have to sit out the rest of my life in the penalty box.” Have you experienced those difficult and devastating moments of life? The temptation is to become angry and bitter. Some people even grow to hate and blame God. Why is God allowing this to happen to me?  Why does God lead us into the wilderness experiences of life? Why the wilderness? Asking why usually doesn’t satisfy. It is far better to consider what we can learn and how to respond in ways that will help us grow on our journey through life. Have you ever noticed that difficulties come in packages—often overwhelming? What we need to remember is that even Jesus felt overwhelmed with sorrow in the garden of Gethsemane. What wilderness experiences quickly remind us of is our humanity, our weakness, and our frailty. God has always led His people into the wilderness experiences of life. All his servants have had moments in the wilderness: Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and Jesus Himself. Wilderness experiences have a design. If you look at the first three gospels, God, by His Spirit, led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. It was God who initiated the confrontation between Jesus and the devil, which is a mirror and a different and victorious outcome to the wilderness wandering of the Israelites between slavery and the promised land.   We find in Deuteronomy a fascinating explanation of why God allows wilderness experiences in our lives. Moses, in the second reading of the Law, is coming to the end of his ministry. He describes the value of the wilderness experiences to the Israelites so they will never forget God.