Why We Have Pain - What Are You Learning From It

What kind of pain do you have? No one is without pain. Why? Because we don’t live in a perfect world.

WHO’S FAULT IS IT?

Some pain is not our fault—some is. Some comes from what other people have done to us. Some comes from our own choices. Some comes simply from living in a broken world where bodies get sick, relationships struggle, people disappoint us, and people we love eventually die.

But here’s something I’ve noticed: We often don’t change until the pain becomes significant. Has your pain become sufficiently disturbing?

This morning I read something God said through Isaiah:

“In the same way I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born,” says the LORD. “If I cause you the pain, I will not stop you from giving birth to your new nation,” says your God. (Isaiah 66:9 NCV)

The backstory on this is very interesting. Isaiah is describing Jerusalem and God’s people almost like a woman giving birth. They had experienced rebellion, judgment, destruction, exile, and tremendous pain. But God was telling them, I’m not finished. Something new is coming.

PAIN BRINGS CHANGE AND GROWTH - OR SHOULD

The original Hebrew uses the language of labor and childbirth. The picture is basically this: Would God bring a woman all the way to the point of delivery and then not allow the baby to be born? God says no. The pain was leading somewhere. Pain is actually a blessing, and I’m not just trying to be positive.

At the same time, it doesn’t mean every painful thing that happens to us was personally sent by God. Some pain comes from our bad decisions. Some comes from someone else’s decisions. Some comes because we live in a fallen, imperfect world.

Here’s the good news, if we will let Him, God can use all of it.

Think about childbirth. Labor hurts terribly, but there’s a difference between meaningless pain and labor pain. Labor pain is producing something.

THE RIGHT WAY TO LOOK AT PAIN

Maybe that’s a question we should start asking about our own pain: What is this producing in me? For many, to make the pain go away, we must “do” something good and different. And - don’t walk through pain alone - get someone to help you.

Maybe your financial pain is teaching you to handle money differently. Maybe relationship pain is showing you something about yourself you’ve refused to see. Maybe consequences are finally making you change a destructive habit. Maybe disappointment is teaching you that you’ve been depending on something—or someone—more than God. Maybe suffering you didn’t cause is developing compassion, patience, endurance, or a dependence upon God you never would have learned when everything was comfortable.

We spend a lot of time asking God, “Why am I going through this?” Maybe there’s another question worth asking:

“God, what do You want to bring to life in me through this?”

DON’T WASTE YOUR PAIN

I say, don’t waste your pain. Learn from it. Let God use it. Change what needs to change. Repent of what needs to be repented of. Forgive what needs to be forgiven.

And when the pain isn’t something you can fix or change, ask God to change you through it.

Because sometimes the pain we desperately want God to remove may be the very place where He is producing something in us that comfort never could.

GOD, help me see the growth and change that can come from my pain. Don’t let me waste it. IJNIP amen ♥️