Allow me to offer a very profound sentiment as I begin this month—pain hurts! Even now, as I write these words, I can hear the echoed “Amen” all over town. The “pain of pain” is something well-known to most of us, and it is one of those things that we are fairly certain we could do without.
But we would be wrong.
Physical pain has become a frequent companion to me in recent months. Many of the good folks in and around Elim have caught me on “bad days” using a cane to walk around or even to lean upon while teaching. And while I still endeavor to hide how I feel from time to time (even though I get chided for it!), the fact that pain hurts can be seen within my eyes, and it worries some of you who express your great care to me. In those moments I am often assured that my ministry, life, pleasure, attitude and everything else would be so much better if I could just be free of this pain!
But I would be wrong.
The fact of the matter is that the Lord has been using pain to teach me something that I need to know. Honestly, it is something that He has spelled out in His Word and I should be living within its truth better than I do. But, just like so many other children of God, I tend to learn lessons better through what I live than simply by what I read and study. And the lesson the Lord has been impressing upon my life by the truth of His eternal Word applied to my life is that pain not only hurts, it also has a purpose!
Now, we know that this is true when it comes to the physical realm. After all, when we slice our finger on a knife while working in the kitchen, it hurts and we instantly know that we have an injury that needs tending. This is true of most any physical injury. But the truth of the matter is that some of the “doctoring” we need because of a hurt or pain may go well beyond a bandage—we may need to have some soul repair!
That’s right. Sometimes God uses physical situations to awaken us to spiritual realities. And I am not just saying this because your pastor has been down in his back for a while! This is a truth that the Apostle Paul communicated in his second epistle to the church of the Corinthians.
Regarding a physical difficulty (he referred to it as a “thorn in the flesh”) Paul wrote, Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
When the Apostle asked the Lord to get rid of the pain for him, the answer to his prayer did not exactly take the form he had expected! After all, he was Paul! He had been given the great privilege of bringing healing to others as he spread the gospel. Surely the Lord would want him in tip-top condition and strong as an example of Christian health!
But Paul was wrong.
In fact, the thorn remained, but so too did his recollection of what God had said in reply. The promise was that, even in the face of the distressing weakness brought on at times by his ailment, he would never lack the necessary grace to be more than a conqueror for Christ (cf. Romans 8:35-37). This grace of God was ample for Paul, weak as he was, precisely because God’s power finds its full scope and strength in human weakness. That is, the greater the Christian’s acknowledgement of his weakness, the more aware he will become of Christ’s enabling strength (see Ephesians 3:16; Philippians 4:13).
But it is not simply that admitting weakness is a prerequisite for seeing a channel for God’s power. Not at all. In fact, both weakness and power existed simultaneously in Paul’s life. The fleshy thorn was not taken away but the grace of God was given and powerful. This principle can also be seen in Christ’s ministry and death. Indeed, the cross of Christ forms the supreme example of “power-in-weakness.”
What an incredible principle! But we miss it all too often because we tend to separate things into false categories of “physical reality” and “spiritual reality.” God does not create those categories for us. Rather He tells us over and again that what He does and allows in our lives is all for the purpose of making us conform to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Before I finish, let me make another application of this truth. Not all pain in the body is purely physical like a cut or a broken bone. Many of us know the pain of depression or loneliness and other related issues. My dear friends, these pains are like any other in that they show you something is wrong that needs fixing. A cut on your arm does not cause you to look only at your leg until it goes away! How foolish that would be. So also is it true that the “pains of the heart” should not cause us to simply mask the hurt with a pill or a bottle or a pleasure until we think it has gone away. No, no! The pain was there to tell you something needed addressing! And God’s promise is to give you the necessary grace to work through that pain to His glory.
Now, it is not wrong for you to want to be happy, and it is certainly no sin for you to desire to be free from despair and its relatives. However, you will never achieve either of these goals if they are your primary concern. Psalm 16:11 says You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. If we truly desire these things we must learn what it means to be at God’s right hand. And since we know that Christ has been exalted to God’s right hand (Ephesians 1:20), it follows that the more we abide with Christ, the more we will enjoy the pleasures of fellowship with God.
Conversely, when we sense more of the heart-hurts that plague us from time to time, it may well be a reminder sent from the Lord that we need to draw nearer to Him. In that way we come to know the purpose of our pain, whether it be the physical variety that makes us draw upon His sufficient grace, or the emotional variety that is met in full by that same grace of God!
Editor’s Note: Just shortly after writing this, Pastor Larry found out that he will be having surgery to deal with this pain. He still believes what he wrote!
Posted on February 1st, 2008 by Pastor Larry
Filed under: Elim Refresher Newsletter, From the Pastor’s Pen
