Pain
Every year, billions of dollars change hands (both legally and illegally)
for the purpose of preventing or numbing pain of the body, emotions or
mind. Pain visits all of us a t one time or another - and we all want
to be rid of it. Many times our methods of doing so exclude God's healing
and grace. God doesn't usually do away with our pain, but he never wastes
our sufferings. Pain can be a warning to alert us to a problem or a tool
to shape our lives into something beautiful. God will give us faith
and strength to match the trials and the pain that seeps into our
lives. He does not leave us alone in our suffering. It's also comforting
to know that God himself experiences deep pain when his people reject
him, that Jesus endured a painful death to bring us back to God and that
his Spirit groans with us in praying for God's will.
Human beings were not created to experience pain - they
brought pain into existence when they rebelled against God. Pain is a
natural consequence of sin (see Sin), and pain will not be fully eradicated
until Jesus Christ returns and creates a new world.
We all struggle with pain, sometimes to the point
of despair.
Job 2:7
Psalm 38:17; 69:29
Ecclesiastes 2:23
Matthew 27:45-46
Pain entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned against God. There
will be no more pain when God one day creates the new heavens and a new
earth for his people.
Genesis 3:16
Matthew 4:24
Revelation 21:4
God experiences pain as a result of our sin and our rejection
of him.
Genesis 6:6
Matthew 27:27-50
Pain accompanies discipline
Job 6:25
John 16:21
Hebrews 12:11
1 Peter 2:9; 4:12
|