2 Timothy 2:12 – “If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.”
Hello Pain:
I’ve not looked forward to this conversation with you. I’ve had a measure of
pain in my life, but I am not the only one. Right now, at this very moment,
you are visiting multitudes of people, and inflicting physical hurt and
anguish and torture that is beyond my little brain’s ability to even
comprehend or imagine.
Of course, I would be guilty of being short-sighted to limit you to that
particular realm. You have many methods of approaching us as human
beings. Physical pain is the most obvious; the one that we often can see.
You leave your marks written on the faces of fellow travelers in this journey
of life. But then, there is emotional pain which is more deep-rooted and less
visible to human observation. A well-trained eye can see the evidence of
your personal visit written on someone’s face when they are hurting from
inner anguish; however, we are also wizards at masking the torments and
trouble you inflict which is entirely internal.
Even deeper is the spiritual pains we suffer when we are persuaded that
God has abandoned us, or our prayers are not heard, or that there is no
hope for us. From my perspective this must be the worst pain of all. And
when the trifecta comes (physical, mental, and spiritual pains) and gangs
upon us, to strike us all at once, then we must have pity on that man or
woman, boy or girl who suffers through that trinity of agony.
One blow from one of your weapons is knee-bending, but when we are hit
with all three in unison, we are left prostrate. You do assault us, beat us,
and batter us. I’m not accusing of doing it without good reason, but that
does not ease the agony when the storm is furious. I will try to never
accuse you of doing your work without purpose or permission because that
would be a foolish man’s way of thinking. It is hard to hide when you come
to visit us. We want to cry out with Job, “have pity upon me, have pity upon
me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me” (Job 19:21).
This is confusing to us that you actually are a servant of God. Even if you
come our way through the workings of the Devil, as was the case with Job,
ultimately you answer to our Creator and are His messenger. We want to
question, ‘Why have you come our way?’. The answer, frankly, is never
satisfying to us. If you visit us with pain because of our stupidity and ill-
advised decisions, we tend to justify ourselves with a ready answer. We all
tend to do what is right in our own eyes regardless of the consequences.
We always have ready-made excuses for our actions. We have even been
known to cast blame on others for our pain when, in reality, we have no
one to blame but ourselves. The buck stops here; nonetheless we are
experts at diversion so we don’t have to look at ourselves in the mirror. You
must find it amusing how we excuse ourselves.
If we do suffer for wrong actions and attitudes, we can at least understand
it. If we suffer for doing right, then we become frustrated with the outcome.
Yet we are told by our Maker that “if any man suffers as a Christian, let him
not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” Wow! You must
admit that isn’t easy. And, to top it off, I’m not only expected to glorify God
when you hurt me, I am to be happy about it if I’m suffering for
righteousness’s sake. I’m not even supposed to be afraid of your terror or
any trouble you bring (1 Peter 3:14).
And, that brings me to another point that I wish to discuss with you. What is
this companionship you have adopted with Suffering? Has it always been
that way from the beginning? It is nearly impossible to mention you without
mentioning him. You have heard it many times, “Suffering and Pain” or
“Pain and Suffering.” I think it goes back and forth who gets the top billing,
but I’m not sure why. I just know if you drop by, Suffering tags along; if
Suffering happens to arrive first, you aren’t far behind. You are like
Siamese twins. You two must be a bit shy traveling alone.
I have learned that the pathway of Pain is the only trail to follow if I reach
the desired goal of reigning with Christ in the world to come. The scripture
tells us, “If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.” The Gospels
provide us insight to the excruciating pain that you brought to bear on Him
through rejection, ridicule, scorn and mockery. The wounds He bore in His
body on the tree cause us great sorrow because we know He was paying
the price for our sins. The sharpest weapon you used against Him which I
think brought Him the greatest suffering was being forsaken by his Father.
See from his head, his hands his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did err such love and sorrow meet?
Or thorns compress so rich a crown?
Now, we take up our cross and follow Him and that leads to a direct
confrontation with you. While we dread it, we try to learn to accept your
raised hand against us because we know that ultimately, it works in us a far
more exceeding weight of glory.
Your dominion over us is short-lived. The sufferings are but for a moment.
We are going to dwell forever in a place where you and he are banished
and there will be ‘no more pain (Rev. 21:4).’ Perhaps this causes you great
consternation, but you will have finished your work with us. Your focus then
will be only on those who have rejected Christ and are banished to the
place where the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. You will
reign supreme in that sad land. There you will be free to be a revolting task-
master.
Faith tells me that God is using you to work in me so that I might be more
like Christ. Faith tells me to look at the end and not so much focus on the
now. But the very nature of your painful presence tempts me to allow
eternity to drift into a fog of doubt thus focusing on the here and now,
because you do hurt me. By the way, I don’t count you as my enemy even
though at times I complain about what you do to me. Rather, I count you as
a friend in that you are making me a better person. I just wish you would
hurry up and be finished with me, but I guess that could be interpreted as a
death wish, and that isn’t what I want either.
Let me learn with Moses to choose you over pleasure. He made a
conscious choice to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb. 11:25). We are given the
privilege of not only believing on Jesus Christ, but also to suffer for his sake
(Phil. 1:29). By you, I do learn patience. Admittedly, I’m a coward who does
not pray for patience. I know it is an invitation for tribulation (Roman 5:3). I’ll
just leave it in the hands of God. He will send you my address and decide it
is time for you to visit me. You will find me leaning my full weight on the
promise that all things work together for my good (Romans 8:28), even
when you slip into my life.
C.S. Lewis once made the observation that “God whispers to us in our
pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain; it is His
megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” If that is a correct assessment, then
you are God’s bullhorn to capture my attention and remind me that He is
God and I am mere man. He always does right, but I, by nature, always
tend to do wrong. He therefore uses you like a guardrail on a highway to
keep me on the right path and prevent me from veering off his determined
destination which would lead to my destruction. I need to be more thankful
for you, but you do hurt me, and it is difficult to be grateful when I am
hurting and heartbroken because of you buffeting me.
If we enjoyed giving you to others, we would be sadistic; if we enjoyed
receiving you from others, we would be masochistic. God is not sadistic
and his followers are no masochistic. We have learned that you are God’s
messenger for a specific, divine purpose: to be more like Christ. As long as
we are in the world, we will suffer tribulation. It comes with the territory.
I don’t wish to schedule an appointment with you, Pain; I’ll avoid you if
possible. If, on the other hand, God sends you to visit me, then I don’t want
to delay that Divine appointment. The sooner I learn, the more ready I’ll be
to move on other lessons. I don’t trust you. I do trust God to use you in my
life.
With that caveat, welcome to my home. Come in and stay as long as you
must, but not a moment longer.
© Stan Vespie 2023
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