Pain
I deal with pain everyday of my life. It comes either in emotional, physical or spiritual ways. There are at least two statements I've heard about it. Pain is weakness leaving the body and No pain/No gain.
The first promise that God gave woman was that she would have pain. I guess that's why I have so much of it. When we go back and take pain to its furthest conclusion, pain came about because of man's sin in the garden. Before Adam and Eve sinned, there was no pain. It was something I could not imagine. But when man sinned and separated himself from God, He promised pain to the woman in childbirth and that man would work by the sweat of his brow. I have been asked, "how do you manage having pain all the time?" And I answer, "Because everytime I suffer, I know that I'm living the promise that man would have pain, and because of man's separation from God, I know that pain makes me aware of how much I need God's presence."
Today, I was mowing (as some of you already know that I do) in chronic pain. But, because I knew it had to be done, I did it. As I was "pushing ahead" :) I reminded myself that God allows it, God uses it; and we need it. And I certainly didn't know that, when I was younger. And I certainly didn't believe it either. As a matter of fact, I felt that if I had pain, it was something I should get rid of, rather than learn from it. It was only when I heard Chuck Miller say that pain is my friend that I came to appreciate pain and how it helps me. When my head hurts and I take Tylenol, the problem is not the pain. The pain indicates to me that something else is wrong. Therefore, pain is my friend.
Deitrich Bonhoffer in his book Man's Search for Meaning makes an astounding statement that I have never forgotten since reading his book in the 80's. He says that "he who has a why to live, can live with any how." I know that Melanie Smalling just delivered a whopping baby boy that weighed over 11 pounds. I know she did it without medication. We ask ourselves, how on earth could Melanie do something like that? It's because "he who has a why to live, can live with any how." The pain that Melanie suffered, that we all know she ENDURED, was because Melanie knew the reason for her pain, and because of the "why" she could endure the "how."
C. S. Lewis in his book The Problem of Pain, makes three amazing observations about God. "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. " pg. 83 God uses pain in my life to get my attention and it always has. When I was younger, I thought about God when I had pain, because I thought it was bad and I shouldn't have it. Now that I'm older and more mature, I think about God when I have pain and realize pain and He are both good. Why? Because as C.S. Lewis goes on to say, "It [pain] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul." pg. 85 I am reminded when I have pain, that I have a rebel soul, like Adam and Eve, and I am brought back to God again to help me deal with it. He does not just help me deal with it, He is the only way I can.
When Jesus was getting ready to die...suffer...experience pain...he asked God to take it away from Him twice, but because He knew the why...He dealt with the how. The pain that began as a result of what happened in the garden of Eden was the reason for the pain that Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. Adam and Eve's pain came from being separated from God and Jesus's pain came because He was bringing them back together.
When I experience pain in any of the three ways above, each of them affect the other. Today, because I was in physical pain, mentally I was drained, and spiritually I needed the Lord to help me push through it. Last week when I was painting nine foot ceilings on a five foot ladder, I experienced pain when I fell off of it, which brought about emotional pain, which made me call out to God to get me through it. I literally said to God, "God it's just you and me today, and I'm depending on you to get me through this." And that is the beauty of pain. It is in my weakness that God is His strongest. Therefore, pain is good. Therefore, pain is very good. I believe God has used pain in my life to keep me close to Him. And because I have a why...I can deal with any how.
The first promise that God gave woman was that she would have pain. I guess that's why I have so much of it. When we go back and take pain to its furthest conclusion, pain came about because of man's sin in the garden. Before Adam and Eve sinned, there was no pain. It was something I could not imagine. But when man sinned and separated himself from God, He promised pain to the woman in childbirth and that man would work by the sweat of his brow. I have been asked, "how do you manage having pain all the time?" And I answer, "Because everytime I suffer, I know that I'm living the promise that man would have pain, and because of man's separation from God, I know that pain makes me aware of how much I need God's presence."
Today, I was mowing (as some of you already know that I do) in chronic pain. But, because I knew it had to be done, I did it. As I was "pushing ahead" :) I reminded myself that God allows it, God uses it; and we need it. And I certainly didn't know that, when I was younger. And I certainly didn't believe it either. As a matter of fact, I felt that if I had pain, it was something I should get rid of, rather than learn from it. It was only when I heard Chuck Miller say that pain is my friend that I came to appreciate pain and how it helps me. When my head hurts and I take Tylenol, the problem is not the pain. The pain indicates to me that something else is wrong. Therefore, pain is my friend.
Deitrich Bonhoffer in his book Man's Search for Meaning makes an astounding statement that I have never forgotten since reading his book in the 80's. He says that "he who has a why to live, can live with any how." I know that Melanie Smalling just delivered a whopping baby boy that weighed over 11 pounds. I know she did it without medication. We ask ourselves, how on earth could Melanie do something like that? It's because "he who has a why to live, can live with any how." The pain that Melanie suffered, that we all know she ENDURED, was because Melanie knew the reason for her pain, and because of the "why" she could endure the "how."
C. S. Lewis in his book The Problem of Pain, makes three amazing observations about God. "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. " pg. 83 God uses pain in my life to get my attention and it always has. When I was younger, I thought about God when I had pain, because I thought it was bad and I shouldn't have it. Now that I'm older and more mature, I think about God when I have pain and realize pain and He are both good. Why? Because as C.S. Lewis goes on to say, "It [pain] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul." pg. 85 I am reminded when I have pain, that I have a rebel soul, like Adam and Eve, and I am brought back to God again to help me deal with it. He does not just help me deal with it, He is the only way I can.
When Jesus was getting ready to die...suffer...experience pain...he asked God to take it away from Him twice, but because He knew the why...He dealt with the how. The pain that began as a result of what happened in the garden of Eden was the reason for the pain that Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. Adam and Eve's pain came from being separated from God and Jesus's pain came because He was bringing them back together.
When I experience pain in any of the three ways above, each of them affect the other. Today, because I was in physical pain, mentally I was drained, and spiritually I needed the Lord to help me push through it. Last week when I was painting nine foot ceilings on a five foot ladder, I experienced pain when I fell off of it, which brought about emotional pain, which made me call out to God to get me through it. I literally said to God, "God it's just you and me today, and I'm depending on you to get me through this." And that is the beauty of pain. It is in my weakness that God is His strongest. Therefore, pain is good. Therefore, pain is very good. I believe God has used pain in my life to keep me close to Him. And because I have a why...I can deal with any how.
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