Pain - Friend or Foe?
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Prov. 27:6, NIV.
Profoundly, without a sound, pain speaks. Its message requires immediate action and seeks to preserve and protect more than to offend, yet we seldom willfully invite its presence into our lives. Pain comes to us because God created us to think and to feel.
The nervous system, like an intricate telecommunication system, relays messages about the environment around us and inside us. Though unwelcome, pain is one of its necessary signals. Pain tells us if a pot is too hot to touch so that we will remove our hand at once. It lets us know if something is wrong and gives us good reason to find out what that something is. If we eliminate the cause, the pain leaves-its benevolent purpose accomplished.
If nothing else, pain at least lets us know we are alive. Whether it be fleeting or lasting, physical or emotional, pain has a purpose. Its wounds are faithful-it is a friend and not a foe.
Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, was unaware of his life-threatening problem until the message of John the Baptist arrested his attention. John rebuked Herod's sins, especially that of taking Herodias, his brother's wife, for his own (Luke 3:19). The Baptist's reprimand was a signal, like pain, demanding change. But instead of choosing life, Herod silenced the messenger and forfeited the blessings of obeying God's Word.
From the foundation of the world pain has asserted itself. Tears first rolled from the all-seeing eyes of God. His heart first throbbed and ached over pitiful, vulnerable, disloyal humanity, and His pain demanded immediate action-the life of the only-begotten Son of God. The Scriptures say: "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8, NIV).
Pain teaches us, and as we experience it today, it will remind us that Christ understands exactly what we are feeling. "And with the stripes that wounded Him we are healed and made whole" (Isa. 53:5, Amplified).
Lord, when I hurt, let me not limit Your purpose, but allow You to strengthen my faith and give me the fullness of Your joy.
Profoundly, without a sound, pain speaks. Its message requires immediate action and seeks to preserve and protect more than to offend, yet we seldom willfully invite its presence into our lives. Pain comes to us because God created us to think and to feel.
The nervous system, like an intricate telecommunication system, relays messages about the environment around us and inside us. Though unwelcome, pain is one of its necessary signals. Pain tells us if a pot is too hot to touch so that we will remove our hand at once. It lets us know if something is wrong and gives us good reason to find out what that something is. If we eliminate the cause, the pain leaves-its benevolent purpose accomplished.
If nothing else, pain at least lets us know we are alive. Whether it be fleeting or lasting, physical or emotional, pain has a purpose. Its wounds are faithful-it is a friend and not a foe.
Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, was unaware of his life-threatening problem until the message of John the Baptist arrested his attention. John rebuked Herod's sins, especially that of taking Herodias, his brother's wife, for his own (Luke 3:19). The Baptist's reprimand was a signal, like pain, demanding change. But instead of choosing life, Herod silenced the messenger and forfeited the blessings of obeying God's Word.
From the foundation of the world pain has asserted itself. Tears first rolled from the all-seeing eyes of God. His heart first throbbed and ached over pitiful, vulnerable, disloyal humanity, and His pain demanded immediate action-the life of the only-begotten Son of God. The Scriptures say: "Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered" (Heb. 5:8, NIV).
Pain teaches us, and as we experience it today, it will remind us that Christ understands exactly what we are feeling. "And with the stripes that wounded Him we are healed and made whole" (Isa. 53:5, Amplified).
Lord, when I hurt, let me not limit Your purpose, but allow You to strengthen my faith and give me the fullness of Your joy.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
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