We experience pain in our bodies to make us aware of problems. Pain is a gift from God to warn us of danger. Pain is not the problem, pain is the indicator that we have a problem. When we pray for people, sometimes we pray that Jesus would take the pain away. When Jesus prayed, he would command complete healing.

I had foot pain (plantar fasciitis) for 17 years. A succession of physiotherapists had some success making the pain go away, but it would always come back. I went to a new physiotherapist and discovered my feet were actually fine. The dysfunction of my chest-shoulder scenario was manifesting as pain in my feet. She adjusted something in my chest and my foot pain disappeared on the first visit.

Making the pain go away is like taking the batteries out of a smoke detector. Pain is the signal that allows us to know when we’ve addressed the root issue.

We know experientially that most, if not all, of the significant growth in our lives has come through suffering. Whenever a professional sports team is on a losing streak, the star player will get in front of some cameras and tell the world that adversity is good for them. Consider Lebron James, coming back from a basketball injury in 2009:

“I’m all about being uncomfortable,” James said. “I love being uncomfortable. I fall in love with being uncomfortable. This is another uncomfortable thing for me, and I love it.”

God is loving us through suffering. Consider the words of Amos, where God is doing everything he can to get them to turn back to him so he can save them from judgement and instead bless them.

⁶ “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.

⁷ “I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.

⁹ “I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.

¹⁰ “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.

¹¹ “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the Lord.

– Amos 4:6-11

We are in the same situation today. God is trying to save us from sin, death and hell, and disciple us into a path to heaven. Difficult circumstances, abuse, pain and sickness don’t compare with the horrors of hell. Every kind of warning sign is helpful while we are still on the planet with the ability to respond to God’s mercy before we face his judgement. 

Have you ever noticed that the kind of suffering you encounter seems designed to have the most impact? No one has ever scratched the paint job on my car, maybe because I wouldn’t really care if they did. I suffer in ways that are particularly painful to me personally. Someone else might not mind what I have to go through.

Is the devil so amazing that he knows and exploits all our weaknesses? Or is he a pawn in God’s hand to strengthen and train me with laser focus in my weakest areas?