The Promise of Pain

The promise of pain? Sounds a contradiction doesn’t it, I mean pain, who wants it?

My guess is no-one, yet it’s part of life in a fallen world (even saved lives) and therefore everyone one of us experiences it in varying degrees at some time or other.

Correspondingly, down through the centuries we have sought in different ways to alleviate it, probably no more so than today where we are very good at dealing with/masking/hiding the pain, whether physical, mental or emotional.

Now to ignore pain would be folly, yet we frequently do that, especially in the spiritual realm.

Pain is frequently a symptom that something is wrong and needs to be taken note of and to ignore it can have huge negative repercussions in our lives, in fact internal/spiritual/emotional pain can lead to physical and relational pain.

As C S Lewis put it ‘pain is God’s megaphone’ – God trying to get our attention – is he trying to get yours?

Pain is an opportunity to engage with God’s promises and experience his power – in other words we don’t have to stay in pain – as Peter said, ‘God has given exceedingly great and precious promises….’

Is there pain in your life? Have you sought to suppress it, yet it’s still there? Then be encouraged you are not the first one, the Bible has many of them, so has church history.

Paul suffered among other things a ‘thorn in the flesh’ and prayed three times for God to remove it, but instead of removing it God transformed it from a negative to a positive, and so we come by the promise that has blessed so many ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness,’ a promise born of pain.