Life is not always beautiful. Sometimes it really hurts. And when we hurt, the loveliness of God often gets lost in the pain.
There are, of course, several categories of pain. The most obvious is physical pain, the kind of pain that you get when you are stung by a yellow jacket, or when you are burned by a fire, or a broken limb, or an automobile accident, or battling with cancer.
Another kind of pain is emotional. For example when you love someone and they reject you, or when a loved one passes away, or when your beloved pet dies, or when something bad happens that makes you feel emotional pain.
A third kind of pain is strictly mental, and remarkably different than the other two. Usually, mental pain occurs when a psychiatric anomaly occurs. Such pain can be excruciating. Not only for yourself, but others also.
There are many other categories of pain.
How does God fit into this kind of human experience? Where is God when it hurts? This is a question that has dogged scholars and theologians for centuries.
Before we go any further with this, let's get one thing out of the way. GOD DOES NOT BRING PAIN UPON THOSE HE LOVES!
And it certainly is no "slam dunk" of biblical theology to think that God is taking us to the woodshed. God doesn't take us to the woodshed, or to any other place where he employs spiritual corporal punishment. There is punishment for our sins, but it fell on his Son, Jesus Christ on the cross.
Oh, to be sure, I know what the Bible teaches about God "disciplining" his children.
But the pain we endure is more often the natural consequences of our own bad decisions, ignorance or irresponsibility. This is not something God imposes, instead, it is the obvious consequence of what happens when we do stupid things.
It is also important to understand that sometimes we do stupid things and there are no painful consequences at all. Sometimes we get away scot-free. A person murders. A person rapes. A person steals. No adverse consequences. This happens far more than we are conditioned to believe. No apparent discipline from God and no natural painful consequences. In such cases where is God? Why didn’t he discipline? What happened to the ordinary and natural consequences?
Well, enough of this nonsense. It is so easy for our human, inept minds to become engrossed with questions we cannot answer.
We are concerned here about how God is present when we are going through pain. No matter the pain. No matter the cause or the trigger that engendered the pain.
Where is God when it happens?
Answer: He is where he always was.
Do you remember the conversation that took place between Pilate, the Roman governor, and Jesus just prior to the crucifixion? Pilate said to Jesus, "Do you not realize that I have the authority and power to release you or crucify you?"
Jesus answered that jackass with these words, "You have no power over me at all unless it was given to you from above."
Pilate was focused on himself and the authority given him by Caesar. Jesus was focused on God his Father who is in absolute CONTROL of all.
He is still watching over you. He is still loving you. Yet he allows you to experience the agonizing event that has neutralized and paralyzed you insofar as your ability to function is concerned.
Listen to me: God is in control of all that happens to you and all the mess that you get yourself into. He allows you to live in this world under his curse from the days of Adam. Life in a world under a curse is no picnic. There is pain. There is a LOT of pain.
The reason for this is that God has allowed the human race to go its own way should it choose to do so.
Later, is this study, we will talk about Satan and the Force of Evil. We will explore this more in depth then, but in the context of this discussion we need to be reminded that there are three forces of Evil:
1. Satan himself,
2. People other than yourself, and
3. You, yourself.
Apart from these three, evil does not exist. Natural disaster, while a result of the curse, is not intrinsically evil, even though it often does things we think are evil.
It is enough to know that over and above all, God is in CONTROL. He knew what this world was like before you were born, yet he still allowed you life. Keep in mind that life on this earth is but a flicker of light in your eye compared to eternity. In this life we get to decide where we will live in eternity and God has given us the freedom to make that choice. That is a cause of joy and happiness, not a reason for grumbling and complaining.
At one time in my life, I was a Red Cross Water Safety Instructor. I taught people how to swim and I taught potential lifeguards how to save lives. I later had the privilege of becoming the Waterfront Director of a large summer camp for High School and College boys and girls. The waterfront carved into the shores of a lake nine miles long and over a mile wide in the Adirondacks of New York State.
At the beginning of the summer season, I donned my scuba gear and scoured the bottom of the swimming area for dangerous obstacles. Why do this? Because I needed to know of any possible dangers and correct them before anyone could be hurt by them. On one such occasion, I discovered a six by eight board that had been broken off. The broken end formed into a sharp point. The other end was buried in the bottom of the lake. Directly over it a diving raft had been positioned. Had someone dived off that raft from the 3-meter board and struck that piece of wood, they would have been severely injured or killed.
We didn't just move the diving platform. We removed the protruding board from the bottom.
I had a close friend who was a superb Christian speaker that we invited to address the college kids at the camp for one of the summer weeks. Since we had extra scuba equipment at the facility, I invited him to go diving with me. I was the WSI, -- the instructor. We were diving together, so I thought we should be safe. While about 20 feet deep, he started frantically waving at me. Something was wrong. I gave him the thumbs up and we surfaced immediately. Come to find out that his tank had run out of air. Had we not been together, he might have drowned.
I was careless and endangered my friend. I should have checked the air levels in the tanks before we dived. I neglected to do that.
Jesus never does that. He is never careless with us. He makes no mistakes.
He does what no one else can do. We live in a corrupt world venue, so he watches over us, removing the broken boards in our lives. Even though, even though at times we find that we can't escape the corruption that is in this world. He is with us, taking care of us, even when we make life-threatening mistakes and errors.
He is in control.
Hear me: The basic and fundamental knowledge that God Almighty is in control, is the very thing that gets us through Pain. We don't have to ask God , Why me? You might instead ask, why not me? We know, in the end that like Jesus, he has already made provision for whatever that Pain may have on our lives.
God is in control!
That is all that matters.
Suggested prayer of commitment:
Lord, I have been selling my faith short. I often fret and feel anxious. I feel the depression and pain of seeing the present and not seeing the future. I am going to do my best to start living a life of faith and trust. You have placed hopes and dreams within my heart. I have not held onto them. From this day forward . . . I will learn to trust in the Presence of your Spirit.
