WHEN LIFE HURTS
A few years ago Karen Rabalais related one of her first experiences in nurse’s training. Karen, a member of Southeast Christian Church, was working in the burn unit of Louisville’s Children’s Hospital. She winced as she watched an experienced nurse take a scrub brush over the badly burned arms of a fifteen-month old child.
The baby was screaming in excruciating pain. The cloth being used was not a soft sponge but resembled a Brillo Pad, roughly scraping all the dead tissue away so the skin would become more supple in the end. Karen thought, “I could never do that to a child!”
Minutes later a doctor showed her a picture of another burn victim taken years later where the skin was so scarred and stiff that it had shriveled up and the patient’s arm had almost no movement. Karen learned that no matter how painful the scrubbing of the burn, it was essential for the skin to become elastic and have unrestricted movement in the future. The nurse in training became willing to inflict pain temporarily and even endure the hateful protests of burned children so that years later, they would be mobile and thankful.
The Great Physician sometimes allows us to experience excruciating pain, but only that which is necessary for our spiritual health and eternal benefit. I suspect, however, it makes Him wince when He sees those He loves scream out in protest. The Bible assures us, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
God allows pain that he deems necessary to strengthen our faith, equip us to comfort others, force us to rely on Him, get our focus off this world and to help us appreciate the sufferings of Jesus. Though none of us would volunteer for it, suffering often serves a positive purpose in our lives.
We can put up with a lot if we are confident our hurt is purposeful and passing. A mother in the throes of labor pains can endure her misery because she knows it’s temporary and the end result is the joyful introduction to a new baby.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
Perhaps your hurting a lot right now. Maybe you are crying out in anguish to God asking, “Why?” And, “When will this be over?” Don’t lose heart. Don’t quit. Put your trust in God who promises, “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). And, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17).
Warren Wiersbe once wrote, “When you’re in the furnace, God keeps His hand on the thermostat and His eye on the clock”.
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