Accepting our pain

I actually wrote this on July 22nd, 2013, but wanted to copy it to the blog as it's important to me.

The Lord showed me something this morning that's really changed how I view the pain I'm in, my "condition", and, well, everything!   In explanation, the first thing I do in the morning when I get up is open my bible library. It opens to a "home page' which changes daily and looks similar to a newspaper. It has excerpts of scriptures, excerpts from commentaries, dictionaries, etc. I can click on anything and be taken to the rest of it and am able to view bibles and commentaries (or whatever) side by side.
 

I woke up in great pain this morning, as usual of course. You all know what I've been going through physically with the pain and trying to find a way out of it basically....something that will work, and how this last thing tried also backfired on me.

So I sat down and the first thing the Lord placed before my eyes this morning was from Genesis 3:6 where Eve "desired" the apple. He showed me that to desire something other then Him so strongly was a sin. In my commentary next to that, this was highlighted: The word for desirable (neḥmāḏ, Genesis 3:6) is related to a word that appears later in the command, “You shall not covet” (ṯaḥmōḏ, Ex. 20:17). I knew that already, but I'd never related it to how I felt physically before. Since that was the main thing in my mind when I woke up, that's immediately what I applied it too, and I was ashamed to realize that I had been sinning. I think partly it's because I'm used to thinking of coveting in this sense as coveting something "other then" God, or "instead of" God, instead of just plain coveting something. And I have to admit that I have indeed coveted/desired being without pain.

You know from what I've written in the pain forum, that, like many, what I've been focused on has been to get out of pain, to stop or overcome the pain somehow. It was all I "desired", and I desired it with all of me. I was just totally shocked when I saw this, because right next to it, was another verse that we know well: Philippians 4:11 —I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. * I was stunned! I'd never related that verse to what I perceived as my health before.

After reflecting on that for a bit and talking to the Lord about it and of course repenting of my sin, in a kind of dazed state, I decided to begin my devotional time with Him as I usually do, by praising Him with one of the Psalms of praise, only to discover that He wasn't done with the conversation yet. I have the praise psalms listed in order in my bible library and always have the one for that day already open when my bible library opens. Today's was Psalm 23 ... The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!

I talked to the Lord then some more about what He was showing me of course and at that point, He led me back and had me read further here, only adding a couple more verses: Philippians 4:11–13 —I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. *I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. *I can do everything through him who gives me strength. *

I kept thinking about Paul and the amount of physical pain he must have often been in with all the severe beatings he'd had, and yet we never read of him whining about his physical condition, even though the people he wrote to had to also have known about his physical pain. Instead, he says, he's "content" and constantly is telling us to "rejoice". I looked up the word in the original language for "painful" in 1 Peter 4:12 —Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. *and this is what it says: the experience of painful suffering—‘to suffer pain, to experience severe suffering, painful suffering.’

Well, that certainly seems to describe how my body feels I'm not suggesting we shouldn't seek medical help for our conditions or that we shouldn't take medicine, or anything else. No, to me, this is all about attitude. Personally, I do feel sure that I'm to "accept" the pain I'm in, mentally and emotionally, knowing I can bear it through Him and that He will provide for my every need and work this out for His glory and my good.

I want to add here that the Lord teaches us that He is in control and that He puts each of us right where He wants us. Nothing happens to us that is outside His control.  He also says in  Psalm 16:5 —Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. * In Deuteronomy 10:9, we're shown that the Levites, the priests, were not given any inheritance like the rest of Israel were.  Instead, God told them that He was to be their inheritance. In the NT, God tells us that now we are His priests and He is our inheritance.  After all, the bible defines eternal life as getting to know the Lord better and better. (John 17:3) So,like David we can say, Psalm 73:26 —My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. * Interestingly, guess what scriptures are cross referenced to that? Revelation 21:3–4 —And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. *He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” *

Like Jesus told us, in this life, we will have tribulation and that includes physical pain for some of us.  If we allow Him to, the Lord will use the pain to make us more like Him, to make us into the men and women He created us to be.  It's our choice though.  We can cooperate with Him or we can fight against it. The only thing that fighting against it will change though is to make matters worse for ourselves. We need to remember that we're told: Acts 14:22 —...“We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. * But also we're told that no hardship will ever separate us from Christ, and that it's in the hardships that Christ's power and strength are made perfect in our weakness. (Rom 8:35; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10) . We're told several times to endure the hardships and to know that we will be rewarded for it if we go through them with the attitude of Christ, instead of the world's attitude which is to try and manipulate things so that we don't have to go through it. 

We're to entrust ourselves to the Father, offering our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him.  For others this may mean something entirely different then it means to us.  For us this means pain and all that the pain brings with it.  It's not easy being a living sacrifice is it?  But then the Lord never, ever said it would be.  What He said was that it would be worth it, and because He said it, I believe it.  So let's always remember that along with our bodies we also need to offer up the sacrifice of praise, remembering to rejoice always.  We aren't rejoicing in the pain, we're rejoicing in Him, because He belongs to us and we belong to Him.  He's given us a great privilege...may we prove worthy of it with His help.

May God who's able to make all grace abound to us, so that in all things, and at all times, we have all that we need to abound in every good work for Him! (2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 4:19)