Through the Furnace of Pain

Pain, in its many forms is a part of human experience. There is physical pain that we experience whether young or old. There is emotional pain. There is spiritual pain. There is the pain of singleness and the ache inside for lifelong companionship. There is pain of all kinds and different degrees. Pain is an inseparable part of the human experience. Wiersbe describes in this chapter the necessity of pain.

"All of us have suffered pain during our pilgrimage of life. We could have avoided the pain, but we have learned that the most important things in life usually involve suffering. If people lived to avoid pain, they would never want to grow up. But just think of what they would miss!

Take the matter of human birth. To be sure, we have modern scientific methods to protect mothers, but there is still a certain amount of pain. Jesus Himself used this as an illustration of His own suffering when He said, "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world" (John 16:21).

Think, too, of the pain and sorrow that the mother and father experience as they seek to raise that child. The old proverb says, "When they are little, children step on your feet; but when they are older, they step on your heart." Often this is true. In my ministry I have met dedicated Christian parents whose hearts have been broken because of wayward children who failed to heed their instruction and example. If everybody really lived to avoid pain, nobody would get married and raise a family; yet people do it all the time." (p. 71)

I am not a parent and cannot speak to the event of childbirth or even raising a child. As a child, I can remember the times when I have stepped on my parents feet and times when I have hurt my parents emotionally. There is pain in childbirth. There is pain in raising a child. I don't think the point of chapter is to highlight the fact that life is so dark and painful, but to say that these important relationships in life involve hurt. Wiersbe draws the physical comparison of pain such as in the body. The pain in my joints indicate there is a situation somewhere. There is some kind of issue that needs attention. Likewise, pain also in the spiritual sense has also a purpose.

"What are the higher ministries of pain? Well, for one thing, pain can have a purifying power. The apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:1, "For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin." One of the modern translations puts it, "You must realize then that to be dead to sin inevitably means pain." I once went through intense physical suffering, and it very definitely had a purifying effect on my heart and mind. It made me see spiritual things a lot more clearly. My priorities were rearranged. Granted, pain by itself can never accomplish this; but when we yield to Christ and ask for His help, pain can purify us.

A secondary ministry of pain is that of fellowship with Christ. In Philippians 3:10 Paul writes about "the fellowship of his [Christ's] sufferings." Some people turn against God when they go through suffering, but this need not be so. You and I can be drawn closer to God by faith when we are going through the furnace of pain." (p. 71).

It is so true. These two benefits of pain are so real. I hate to use the word benefit because it sounds so unusual to describe pain that way. These eight or so weeks with my condition has allowed me to think through my priorities and I begin to rethink some times. I have learned also to take better care of my body. When I was in grad school, I had a cup of coffee nearly every day and sometimes two cups. In the past three or so weeks I have given up coffee completely and began to eat a lot more vegetables. Also, fruits once created nausea for me but I have forced myself to slowly include more fruit into my diet. I have reflected more on suffering more than ever and my prayer life has increased significantly. Hardship really reorients us to God especially when our relationship has been lukewarm.

"Pain purifies. Pain draws the Christian closer to Christ. Pain glorifies God. But we must also remember that pain today means glory and honor tomorrow. Paul wrote, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). God doesn't always settle His accounts in this life. In fact, no Christian should expect to receive much reward in this world. Jesus said, "In the world you shall have tribulation." A man said to me one day, "I don't believe in hell or heaven. You have your hell or heaven here on earth." That man was wrong. The unsaved person had better enjoy this world all he can, because it's the only heaven he will ever see! "It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment."

But the Christian is looking forward to the glory of heaven. Jim Elliot, one of the martyred missionaries of Ecuador; wrote in his journal: "He is no fool to give what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." If we suffer with Christ today, it only means glory with Christ tomorrow. For the Christian, the best is yet to come.

Have you surrendered your pain to Christ and asked Him to use it for your good and His glory? I suggest that you do so by faith. God doesn't promise to remove our pain, or even to relieve our pain; but He does promise to transform it and use it for His eternal purposes.

The great apostle Paul was in pain. He had a thorn in the flesh, given to him by God to help keep him humble and useful. Paul did what any Christian would have done--he prayed for the pain to be removed. God did not answer his prayer, but He did meet his need. He gave Paul all the grace he needed to transform that weakness into strength, that suffering into glory. And God will give grace to you and me if only we will yield our all to Him." (p. 73-74).

This final passage presents an eternal hope. Although Wiersbe emphasizes the life after and the hope that is to come, in so doing, I think he minimizes the present life. It is true that the believer's best life is yet to come, and the hope of heaven helps us to have an eternal perspective, but people in pain really need help for the present moment. In discussing the life after, the author does not provide much encouragement for people hurting now. I do like the mention of Paul and his thorn in the flesh and God's sufficient grace to sustain Paul.

There was a devotional this morning that really ministered to me. It was like every line spoke to me in my present situation. I really wrestled with discouragement as I woke up this morning, thinking that God has forgotten me and this devotional was so powerful and so timely. So many parts of it encourages me including the comment on Psalm 23 that God is with us in the green pastures as well as the shadow of death and God has a purpose for our pain.

   FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 2012

A Purpose in the Storm 

But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 

—1 Corinthians 2:9

It has been said that the hammer shatters glass, but it forges steel. God has His purposes in the storms of our lives. God is in control, and He has a plan.

God knows all things in the past, present, and future. And God—and God alone—is uniquely qualified to know when to ordain or to permit evil and suffering and when not to. Therefore, if He allows, or even brings, something into your life, then He has a plan in mind for it.

We love to follow the Lord when things are going the way we want them to go. But when we come across a rough patch, we put on the brakes. We don't want to go through that hardship.

That is why I like Psalm 23, one of the greatest Scripture passages in the Bible: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters" (verses 1–2). Then David goes on to say, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (verse 4).

We love those green pastures and still waters. But we are not really excited about a valley, especially when the shadow of death is written over it. But God is with us in those times as well. That is what is to follow the Lord.

Life on earth for the believer is as bad as it will ever get. If you are a Christian, realize that the worst time of your life is as bad as it will ever be. That is the hope we have.

And through the hardships of our lives, God can accomplish great things.