You Need Your Pain

Pain. Americans spent an estimated $20 billion in 2005 on pain relievers. And sincere Christians long for a literal fulfillment of Revelation 21:4: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” (KJV).

But the truth is: you need your pain. Pain is not a disease or physical condition: it is a symptom of a disease or condition. Pain is God’s way of telling you that something is wrong, and you need to do something to take care of the underlying condition that is producing the pain. Pain is valuable; else you wouldn’t know that anything was wrong.

Leprosy is mentioned frequently in the Bible. What is it? Leprosy is a disease caused by the Mycobacterium leprae bacteria. This bacterium affects the body’s nervous system, concentrating on the cooler parts of the body. Affected areas are skin, eyes, and muscles in the hands and feet. People with this disease live a virtually pain-free existence. Many of us wish for a pain-free life. Yet in fact, the absence of pain is what is so devastating to the leper.  Again and again they wound themselves; yet they don’t feel a thing.

Although leprosy is not yet fully understood, today there is a cure. A blend of drugs known as Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) is effective in killing all known strains of leprosy bacteria. But for most of history, the disease was incurable, and led to terrible deformities in its victims. It was the absence of any sensation of pain that caused lepers to eventually lose fingers, toes, hands, arms, legs and eyesight. Pain was given by God to protect His creation from harm.

Consider what would happen if you had no pain sensation in your feet. No one stands on both feet at the same time. (Not unless you’ve had military training.) Normally we stand on one foot, and then when the stresses and strains of the body weight are felt by that foot, slight pain comes on and informs our brain that the foot is under strain. We shift our weight to the other foot and subject it to the same strains until that foot is tired; then the cycle of shifting weights is repeated.

But if you had no sensation of pain, you wouldn’t shift your weight from foot to foot. Since your brain would receive no messages regarding the stresses and strains the tissues of the foot are being subjected to, you would continue to stand and stand and stand. This can destroy the feet. The tissues of the feet, including the skin and its surrounding tissues, the joints and the ligaments, and the bones, are all subjected to severe strain. The weight of the body on the feet crushes the skin and causes it to lose its blood supply. The strained ligaments around the joints tear, the bones fracture because of fatigue and you still do not feel any of these injuries; because you do not feel pain. So while these wounds and deformities occur, you would continue to injure your feet until they crumble to uselessness and finally need to be amputated. Pain is the symptom which you need to prevent this injury and subsequent amputation. Pain is a stimulus for rest.

This is true not just in the feet, but everywhere in the body. You need your physical pain. But you need your spiritual and emotional pain as well. Yes, the slights and emotional hurts that come from insults, betrayals, abandonments, and the mental anguishes of life are beneficial to us. We need those pains. Spiritual numbness will prevent you from changing your attitudes, emotions and thought processes. Emotional pain will develop Christ-likeness.

This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he wrote: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” II Corinthians 4:17 (KJV). Another version of that verse says: “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” (NLT).

Some of the benefits of spiritual/emotional pain are:

1. It gives you the opportunity to forgive. The most noble, the most honorable, the most God-like act any human can perform is to forgive someone. Spiritual growth is dependent upon opportunities to forgive those who “trespass” against you.
2. Surviving anguish and hurt allows you to learn to connect with friends and family on a closer level. The fact that you faced, and survived, such pain frees you to concentrate on other relationships. When other hurts occur, you know you can get through them, and you can turn to a network of friends and family – for your own help, but also so you can now be a source of strength and a help to them.
3. Surviving such hurts gives you confidence that you can work through whatever trauma life throws at you. The same loving Lord who helped you before, will not leave you or forsake you now.
4. You become a deeper, less superficial person through your suffering. Every walk through the valley of the shadow of death deepens and refines your character. You can empathize with others who are suffering emotional trauma.
5. It causes you to appreciate the good things the Lord has provided in this life. You can contrast the good to the bad, and learn to lean on the Lord who provides all the good.

So the next time you experience pain, either physical or emotional, remember that God gave it to you for your good. But anything, to excess, can be harmful. Limiting pain can be good, too.