Purpose in Pain

Purpose in Pain

I hate to admit this, but I’m not sure I’ve outgrown pouting.  Pouting, that thing we did when we were little where we hid in the corner, sullen and frustrated that things didn’t go our way.  Four months ago, I twisted my knee playing volleyball with our youth group at church camp, and I was certain it would just go away in time with plenty of rest, ice, and elevation.  It never did. It never did because I tore my ACL, and I am having ACL surgery. I’ve been pouting over this injury, over this surgery and over the recovery. That’s hard to admit.  I’m supposed to say, “It’s no big deal, I’ll be back in no time.” That’s what everyone wants to hear, expects to hear, but if I’m honest with myself, God and others-I’ve been pouting. I don’t want to do it.  I carry a genetic mutation that can cause breast, ovarian and colon cancer and because of a year long battle with breast cancer, I have already had 14 surgeries in the last 15 years. I don’t want another one.  I can almost hear the cringe. I’m not supposed to feel this way. I need a perspective change. I do. Because here’s the truth of Scripture even though God doesn’t cause us pain, in this world there is pain and God uses our pain for His purposes. Our pain is not pointless. Our pain has a purpose.

Promises in Pain

The following verses can help us fight our temporal perspective on pain.  They can help us to call out in prayer, as Jesus's disciples did in Luke 17:5 “Increase our faith”.  Each of these passages promise great rewards and blessings that come from the problems and pain we face.  They can help shift our perspective and current irritation of our pain by helping us see a greater good that results in us through our trials.

“Consider it great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have it’s full effect, so that you may be mature and complete lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-3 CSB)

The Promised blessing of trials, pain, and problems in this Passage:

Endurance

Maturity

Completeness

Lacking nothing

“Now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad.  These troubles come to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold….The purity of your faith will bring praise, glory, and honor when Jesus comes again.” (1 Peter 1:6-7 ICB)

The Promised blessing of trials, pain, and problems in this Passage:

Purity of Faith

Praise, Glory, and Honor to Jesus

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop (patient) endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” (Rom 5:3-5)

The Promised blessing of trials, pain, and problems in this Passage:

Patient Endurance

Strength of Character

Confident Hope

No Disappointment

Knowing how dearly God loves us

Hearts filled by the Holy Spirit

That is a powerful list of words full of depth and meaning and they are our blessings and rewards for enduring through our problems and our pain with faith that God is working on our behalf in the midst of our trials.

The Message version of Rom 5:3-5 is chalked full of vivid language that brings these promises to life.  “We praise even in the trouble because we know how troubles develop passionate patience in us. Patience in us forges the tempered steel of virtue keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.  In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary-we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit.”

As I read this translation, I realized that “short changed” was exactly how I was feeling in having to have another surgery.  I love that God addresses this feeling. In our flesh, our pain can make us feel picked on, overwhelmed or overlooked, but in our spirit our trials are putting us in a tender place where we are dependent upon God to uphold us and carry us. In fact grace in pain is increased.  Our hearts aren’t being short changed they are being super charged by God’s love and grace. The pain is carving out more room in our hearts to be filled by God’s love and presence.

Coping Mechanisms

There are two common coping mechanisms the flesh attempts to use to stop the feeling of pain.

#1 Comparison.  We try to end our pain by comparing it to the greater pain we see in others or to a greater pain we experienced in our past.  We tell ourselves that we shouldn’t be feeling pain when so many others are hurting far worse. We shouldn’t be feeling pain when we have already lived through _____________, if we can live through _____________ then nothing else should hurt.  This method is ineffective because we are trying to shame ourselves out of feeling pain and shame is never an effective remedy.

#2 Denial.  If we deny that our problem hurts or that we are bothered by it then it will just go away. If we pretend we aren’t in pain, the pain will go away.  An injured wound does not go away it festers or it copes. Pretending my knee was fine, did not make the ACL grow back or the pain go away. Only surgery can do that.  Only time with a skilled physician can mend and repair the torn ligament.

The remedy for pain is the great Physician. Pouring your heart out honestly before HIm.  He tends it, He binds it, and He heals it. (“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” PS 147:3 NLT).  Whether our pain is physical or emotional, it is not too deep or too extensive that the Great Physician cannot heal it.

With my bum knee I kept picturing myself trailing behind the shepherd and his flock, trying to limp and keep up but falling further behind.  Many of us can feel left behind in our pain and weakness. The flock seems to have moved on spiritually without us. A shepherd never leaves an injured sheep behind.  He carries it, and because He’s leading a flock he must be at the front of the pack. So the little lamb in his arms isn’t falling behind as it heals, but is staying close to the shepherd’s heart carried in his arms.

The pain is doing something for us, it’s working in us.  “Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without unfolding grace.” (2 Cor. 4:17 MSG)

2018/10/16 at 7:17 pm