Pain

Pain can cause people to do amazing things. I have been in several castles in England and other parts of Europe, and one of the things they always seemed to have on the tour was a dungeon, equipped with a torture chamber. The various land lords or other folk had to keep the people in line, either to be sure they kept serving them, or just keeping the general peace. And the fear of time in the torture chamber seemed to be sort of a universal way of getting that accomplished.

Physical pain from our own physical ailments can have amazing impact on our personalities. I have had some sharp back pain over the past few days, and I have had to battle fiercely two things: I have had to not allow discouragement to enter, thinking that this may be something serious as it was before - and I also have to keep a close reign on my tongue. As my Pastor says, "Hurting people hurt people."

Wow is it true! I am human, and I tend to let that pain out just a little bit: why keep it all to myself? I get snappish when I hurt, and I think that God loves me enough to let me pull a muscle or raise a bump now and then just to hone my skills at keeping it to myself. I was flat on my back in sharp pain with my back for close to six months a couple of years ago - surgery finally set things right - but looking back at that time I am so amazed that my family didn't just shoot me! I was spreading the pain around - very tough time for all of us. It would have been a mercy killing - for them!

I was somewhat surprised and even a little relieved to read that I am not alone in this. How many times do heroes of the Bible, great men who spoke for God, rattle off amazing truth which has the power to change lives, only to follow it up with a rant about some pain or affliction? Quite often. David was even good at complaining about the simple fact that the ungodly men around him prospered, or that there were people who seemed to take delight in speaking ill of him personally.

Jeremiah 15:16 is an oft-quoted passage, but if you read on a bit, it contains a little twang which does NOT get mentioned in most of the teaching I have heard. Here it is - watch how it moves from amazing truth which can challenge our very lives, to a very human-sounding rant:

Jeremiah 15:16-18 (New International Version)

¹⁶ When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart's delight,
for I bear your name,
O LORD God Almighty.

¹⁷ I never sat in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.

¹⁸ Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?
Will you be to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails?

So - I want to hunger after God's word as Jeremiah did. God was able to speak to the world at the time, and even to this present day through this prophet. But it seems that pain was able to make him begin to wonder if God was just a mirage. Wow - Lord, I know I will have pain, both physical and emotional in my life. Please help me see to it that it only drives me closer to you.