Pain

In His Name Devotionals
PAIN

Have you ever heard an unbeliever mock the idea of a powerful, loving God who still allows pain and suffering in the world He is supposed to have created? The reasoning goes something like this: Pain is bad, and a loving God would eliminate all pain. So there cannot be a God like you Christians worship.

Pain isn’t fun. But pain often serves good purposes. It warns. It protects. It teaches. And it is necessary for our growth and development. The “evil” that is associated with pain comes either when we unjustly inflict it upon one another (e.g., rape, intimidation) or when we react to it poorly (e.g., vengeance, unbelief).

What is true of physical pain is also true of emotional and spiritual pain. Pangs of conscience make us sensitive to one another, requiring us to weigh the effects of our deeds on our neighbors. Spiritual pain over sin and alienation from God is meant to send us to Christ for healing.

Far from being an argument against God’s creative power and redemptive love, pain attests His goodness as a natural alarm to our physical bodies; a motive for caring about one another; a reason to seek the One who alone can deal with our eternal needs.

Pain is there for a reason—A very good reason.