Why Do We Hurt?

THE PURPOSE OF PAIN

Jun Malazo

Have you ever been asked the question:  If God is love and cares for me, then why does He allow so much pain and suffering in my life?  Maybe you have even asked this question yourself.  It is no doubt that pain and suffering are constantly experienced in our lives. 

It seems that life is so unfair.  What’s worse is that it seems those who are causing the hurt and injustice are living a life unscathed by the consequences of their actions.  Life just seems so unfair.

I have never met anyone that likes or looks forward to experiencing pain.  Whether its physical or emotional pain, we prefer to avoid it like a plague.  I have never liked going to the dentist. However, when I have to, I never refuse the anesthesia offered to help bear the pain caused by those horrid tools the dentist uses to dig at your teeth! 

Life is much the same way.  People today are doing all they can to ease or even avoid pain and suffering.  There are many that resort to self-help gurus, try a new resolution in life, or even worse, use drugs and alcohol to ease the pain of life. 

Is there hope and escape from all the pain and suffering?  Are we meant to just “tough it out” and bear it all hoping that our lives will not simply collapse on us?  The Apostle Peter explains it this way:          

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though                                                                 some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of                                                            Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with                                                                exceeding joy."  (1 Peter 4:12-13)

In today’s vernacular, the Apostle Peter is simply stating that the trials or pain the we experience are a normal part of life.  Peter was addressing Christian Jews and Gentiles that were scattered because of persecution and were now living among antagonistic pagans in Asia Minor. 

He encouraged them that trials are just part of living for God.  Make no mistake, Peter was not belittling their problems.  He was encouraging them that the reason for their suffering was because they were doing right while others were doing wrong. 

If pain and suffering are a normal part of our lives, then they must have a purpose.  While doing research for this article, I came across an article that I believe will help reinforce the thought I am trying to present.  The following is from www.minisrtry127.com, entitled, “Pain Teaches Us”:

Tony Dungy is the former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.  His team won the Super Bowl in 2007.  He has been an amazingly successful coach in the NFL and he is a Christian.  He and his wife experienced tragedy in 2005 when one of their sons committed suicide.

At an awards breakfast in 2006 speaking of the pain that his family went through during the suicide of his son, James, Tony Dungy told about his youngest son, Jordan, who has a rare congenital condition, which makes it impossible for him to feel pain.  “He feels things, but he doesn’t get the sensation of pain,” Dungy said.

Tony Dungy said his family has learned many lessons from Jordan.  It sounds like it would be good not to be able to feel pain, but it is not.  “We’ve learned a lot about pain in the last five years we’ve had Jordan.  We’ve learned some hurts are really necessary for kids.  Pain is necessary for kids to find out the difference between what’s good and what’s harmful.”  Jordan, Dungy said, loves cookies.  “Cookies are good, but in Jordan’s mind, if they are good out on the plate, they’re even better in the oven.  He will go right in the oven when my wife’s not looking, reach in, take the rack out, take the pan out, burn his hands, eat the cookies and burn his tongue and never feel it.  He doesn’t know that’s bad for him.”  Jordan, Dungy said, “Has no fear of anything, so we constantly have to watch him.” 

The lesson learned, Dungy said, is simple.  “You get the question all the time, ‘Why does the Lord allow pain in your life?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  If God is a God of love, why does he allow these hurtful things to happen?” Dungy said.  “We’ve learned that a lot of times because of that pain, that little temporary pain, you learn what’s harmful.  You learn to fear the right things.  “Pain inside sometimes lets us know that spiritually we’re not quite right and we need to be healed and that God will send that healing agent right to the spot.  Sometimes, pain is the only way that will turn us as kids back to the Father.”

What Tony Dungy and his family discovered is a valuable lesson for all of us to learn.  When we feel pain our tendency is to be self-focused.  This distracts us from the potential lesson that God is trying to teach us.  If we are not careful, we begin to question God’s sovereignty and plan for our lives.  God is constantly trying to bring us closer to Him by transforming us to be like His Son Jesus Christ.  Notice the truth found in the following verse:

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:"  (1 Peter 1:7)

Gold is very valuable due to the fact that it has many uses.  For many centuries, it has been used for money, and today it is used in different types of industries.  But when gold ore is first mined out of the ground it contains many impurities that need to be removed. 

This is only possible when gold undergoes a refining process that requires it to be heated up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.  Someone once said, “The Christian life involves much of the same process.  Sometimes we are surprised when ‘bad things happen to good people.’  But the Scripture tells us that fiery trials are part of God’s refining process for our lives.”

Another tendency that we have when going through a trial is to think that God doesn’t like us or He is somewhat trying to punish us for some wrongdoing on our part.  While it is true that some trials are self-inflicted, caused by our own foolishness and sin, we cannot conclude every trial comes as God’s punishment.  In fact, this verse tells us so:

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."  (Jeremiah 29:11)

There once lived a man by the name of Job.  The Bible describes him as a man that “was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”  The word eschewed means to “deliberately avoid.”  Job was a man that lived to please God and the Bible goes on to say that “…there is none like him in the earth….”  And yet, God allowed some incredible trials in his life.  These trials were not for punishment but for purification.  Job concluded, "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."  (Job 23:10)

The overall theme of this particular article is to present the purpose of pain.  I don’t know what God’s purpose is for your pain.  That is between you and God.  But I do know that He does have a purpose. 

God blessed my wife and me with children that are very musically talented. 

Many people have commented about the musical ability of our eldest son in particular.  He plays the guitar beautifully.  For his age, his ability is remarkable.  But before all of that, when he was about 8 years old, he was diagnosed with a rare condition called Tourette’s Syndrome. 

To spare you all the technical aspects of this medical condition, it can be simply explained as a dysfunction of the brain that causes involuntary and uncontrollable, often violent, muscle movements in the body as well as repetitive vocal sounds or words either quiet or loud. 

To make his very long story short, this condition changed his life and the lives of our family forever.  He could not function normally like other 8 year olds.  Sleep was difficult and many times impossible.  Being in public was hard as his Tourette’s would cause people to stare. 

We desperately tried every therapy and consulted experts in the field.  Some of our efforts at first helped ease his condition but eventually it would come back with a vengeance.  Every day we prayed for answers, and eventually we just prayed that God would give us enough grace just to get through this seemingly endless trial.  We were faced with the reality that our son would have to live with this condition for the rest of his life.

One day I decided to teach him basic chords in the guitar.  After learning this, I left him to just practice by himself.  He would spend hours upon hours strumming those same three major chords.  We had a breakthrough.  His knowledge and skill were expanded. 

Many, countless days he has spent hours carefully listening to gifted guitarists play and then skillfully learning to copy what they were playing.  We noticed early on that as long as he was playing the guitar, his Tourette’s did not bother him. 

It was a much-awaited answer to our desperate prayers.  Today people are blessed as they enjoy listening to his music. However, the majority of them do not realize that his amazing talent and the beautiful music that he is able play now have come as the result of a deeply painful trial in his life.

I am not sure what particular pain God has allowed in your life today.  It may be that God is refining your life. I just want to encourage you that God has a wonderful plan for your life.  Pain is never easy, but it has a purpose.  God loves you, and He wants to use you to be a blessing to others.