The divinity of pain

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There are those unsettling moments in our lives when we are overcome or confused by the problem of pain.  Pain places our relationship to God in an interesting place.  Pain shifts our position of comfort and pleasure to position of uncertainty and curiosity.  Lord, You saw this pain coming.  Is this pain caused by my own ignorance and flesh?  Have I offended you and I am experiencing the discipline of Your corrective hand? Am I under oppression or assault from spiritual forces of darkness?  Is this pain a result of living in a fallen world?

Christians from different denominational backgrounds would answer these questions very differently.  My liberal friends would tell me that pain is a part our "faith journey" and that my pain exists because I have too conservative of a view on God.  God wants me to be happy so if it causes me pain then it must not be of God.  My conservative friends would tell me that my sin has its consequences and that pain is the consequence of living in a fallen world where I have not yet achieved spiritual maturity to enjoy pain rather than find it uncomfortable.  My charismatic friends would say that the enemy is oppressing me because of a spiritual attachment that I have as a result of an unresolved relationship from three years ago, but perhaps through prayer and fasting the Lord will break this cycle of sorrow and trial.  My Pentecostal friends would say that I have not fasted enough to find the real reason of my pain, but time tarrying at the altar with the prayer team elder will result in a Holy Spirit led revelation of my inner rebellion revealed to me through the interpretation of tongues spoken by the Chief Prayer Warrior of the 3rd Degree Apostleship Program.  Each of these perspectives offers some truth and some falsehood, some meat and some bone.  I use exaggeration (hyperbole even) to make the point that going to others for counsel is often of benefit, but often causes more confusion than it does healing.  I have resolved in some matters of pain to keep my number of counselors few and to spend most of my time before the Wonderful Counselor.

So much our emotional and spiritual pain is caused by relational hurts, unmet expectations and disappointment in ourselves.  We believe that we ought to have been treated some way and we were not, we expected one person to react this way but he/she reacted that way, we believed by this point in our lives we would have achieved this accomplishment or milestone (i.e., marriage, promotion, financial independence, etc.) and we have not, we sin and we are upset with ourselves for still struggling with the same old thing.  The examples are endless.  Pain can be the catalyst to growth or a stumbling block on the path to spiritual wholeness.  It can increase our prayers or cease them.  It can elevate the intensity of our worship or it can cause us to sit while the rest of the congregation carries on.  Pain can be the result of maturation of our faith (dying to self) or the result of the degradation of our faith (living in continual and willing sin).  Pain is the symptom of every emotional sickness which the Great Physician brings to the surface of our lives to begin the long process of healing the inner wounds and defects of our hearts.

I think of the moments of Christ's life where He experienced profoundly deep pain.  He wept bitterly at the death of Lazarus because He had lost His friend.  He was in so much agony in the garden when He prayed that its said that He was sweating and crying blood.  He longs for His children to live together in obedience to Him and in unity, but they do not.  "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to father your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Luke 13:34 NIV)  In the most emotionally and spiritual painful event in the history of mankind, Jesus cries out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46 NIV).  Though these are just a few examples of Christ's pain, Christians can conclude that the life of Christ was marked by suffering and pain beyond our human comprehension.

Therefore, I have found this one solace in experiencing pain regardless of its cause or its result.  I have found that in experiencing pain, I can identify with Jesus.  In experiencing pain, I can confidently go before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) and identify with my risen Lord.  I can say, "Jesus, I do not enjoy this pain but I know that You did not enjoy yours either.  You were fully human like me, but in Your perfection You did not sin in your pain.  We have pain in common, God.  Please use this pain to bring us closer together as we are going though something together.  Only this time Jesus, please let me respond to pain like You did and still do: without sinning.  Help me to honor You in my pain, regardless of its cause or its result."  A broken spirit and a contrite heart God will not despise - He enjoys answering prayers like these.

The "problem of pain" (as C.S. Lewis refers to it) can be debated and argued in small groups and seminaries until the end of time.  The true story here is that no matter how much we argue and debate, pain is with us in our humanity until Christ returns in His divinity.  Let us all respond well.  Amen.