How God can use our pain

I too wake up in a lot of pain. I generally get up several times a night because of it too and sometimes have to take the morphine to get it down enough to be able to go back to bed, but I try not to take it till at least 5am. Being in that much pain every day it's very easy to get down about it, as I'm sure you know. It can get pretty old real quick and you get to where you just don't want to have to deal with it anymore; especially when the pains been extra severe for awhile due to weather or a flare up or stress or whatever....

So...what can we do to get ourselves away from feeling sorry for ourselves and wanting to just give up? Surprisingly there's quite a few things we can do. Most importantly however, we need to remember that our thoughts generate how we feel mentally, and that how we feel mentally has a BIG effect on how we feel physically too. So if we can somehow make our first thoughts, thoughts of joy, hope, love, etc. that can make a huge difference on how our day goes. This is what God's Word teaches us and even the secular world agrees with this much! But, the secular world fails here because they don't have the Holy Spirit to help them, and we do, so we can succeed where they fail. This is one verse that can be very helpful for us.

Romans 15:13  —May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. *

Let me explain why. 1st, because it's telling us something true about our God. He is a God of hope. He's not the kind of God that goes around dashing our hopes, but instead He gives us hope, hope for our ultimate future throughout our eternal life and hope for this life as well. When we think about that, that reminds us that He is the giver of good gifts.

James 1:17–18 —Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. *  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. *

So every perfect gift is from Him, and all those "gifts" that aren't so perfect we can then know are not from Him, as well as all the "bad" things that happen to us...like our pain. And what about our pain, knowing God didn't "give us" our pain, that He didn't bring it about, what then? Well, that reminds us of yet another scripture. 


Romans 8:28— And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. *

That He will take care of all those things that happen to us because of Satan, our flesh, the world, the curse of sin, etc and with our cooperation will use them to help us. I used to wonder how we could know we were called according to His purpose, and what His purpose was. Now I know, and so do you. We can know we were called, simply because we've been saved, because all those He calls, He saves as that scripture explains as it continues!

Romans 8:29–30  —  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. * And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. *

It also tells us what His purpose, His Will is for us. It's His will that we be glorified with Christ, which we know from studying means that we grow to spiritual maturity in His Word, for that's how we're changed and glorified. Speaking of glory, that should remind us of what gave our Lord the strength to go through with being crucified, which I think you'll agree is even more painful then what we put up with every day!

Hebrews 12:2–4  —  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. *  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. *  In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. *

John 17:5 — And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. *
 
It was remembering His own glory and knowing that what He would be doing, although horrible, would bring all of us to Him in heaven and give us glory along with Him that gave Him the joy which strengthened Him and enabled Him with God's help to go to that cross. Paul went through more physical pain, tortured literally any number of times and yet he was able to call that torture and the pain he endured, "light and momentary"! That's just crazy! At least according to the world it is lol so what changed Paul's perspective of all that he was going through? It was knowing that every bit of pain we go through here and now, brings us more glory in heaven!

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 —  Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. *  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. *  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. *

That is, if we allow God to use that pain for our good. Paul tells us to look at Jesus, so let's look at how He dealt with the pain of the cross:

John 12:27–29 — “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. *  Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” * The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

He was quite aware of what would happen to Him shortly and the physical, emotional, and spiritual pain that He would have to endure for us, that's why He said His heart was troubled. That's putting it pretty mildly isn't it? I think I'd have been so freaked out that I wouldn't have been able to think at all! But, knowing what was coming, what did He do? He said, "Father, glorify your name!" We can do the same thing every morning when we wake up. We can do it every night when we go to bed knowing that the next morning we'll be waking up in pain once more.


We need to remember that God's mercies are new each morning and that we must bloom no matter what our circumstances are that day--in pain, no pain, whatever. More then that though, what we need to do when we're in pain is ask Him to glorify Himself in it and through it! What an amazing thought!

See, Jesus didn't live for Himself. Everything He said and did, He did for the Father. He wants us to do the same, only everything we say and do should be for Him. So as Jesus asked the Father to glorify His Name through His pain, we can ask our Lord to be glorified through our pain. (Jesus and the Father are One so it really doesn't matter which one we ask lol) Remember, when we ask this, we're asking according to God's Will for it is His Will and His plan to glorify us too!

2 Corinthians 3:18  —And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. *

And in fact, we're actually commanded to do this:

1 Corinthians 6:20  —for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. *

Asking that He be glorified through our pain doesn't take the pain away or lessen it even, but it gives us a different way to look at it; a way to endure it, just as it did our Lord. That's what it means when it says to fix our eyes on the unseen. Instead of thinking about the pain, we're to think of the glory it will bring our Lord and ultimately ourselves as well.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18  — Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. *  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. *  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. *

Now, that doesn't mean that we're supposed to be masochists and actually enjoy the pain we're in, not at all! It means that we endure it knowing that although we may not be able to understand or see it, that God IS using it for our good and that He will be glorified in some way because of it.

So, instead of waking up, thinking about how much we hurt, what it feels like, how tired we are of it, etc... instead, we simply smile up at the Lord and say, "Lord, please use this pain to bring glory to Your Name today", or simply, "glorify your name through this pain Lord!" or however you want to say it, leaving it up to Him how He does it and knowing that He WILL do it, even though we may not see it. We can know that for sure because we know He doesn't lie, ever. He only speaks the truth, and we know that He has said that He will use our pain for our good. We might be too young yet spiritually to understand, just as a little one is too young to understand why they have to go through the pain of an immunization shot and how that's going to help them, but it still helps them, and our pain will help us.

It's interesting that today's bible verse at the top of the board goes right along with this:

God has to work in us before He can work through us. It's much easier for us to grow in knowledge than to grow in grace. Learning God’s truth & getting it into our heads is one thing, but living God’s truth & getting it into our character is quite something else. God put young Joseph through 13 years of tribulation before He made him 2nd ruler of Egypt, & what a great man Joseph turned out to be! God always prepares us for what He is preparing for us, & a part of that preparation is suffering. The Bible exposition commentary

2 Cor 1:7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

Let me quote the rest of what that commentary says about this:

God has to work in us before He can work through us. It is much easier for us to grow in knowledge than to grow in grace. (2 Peter 3:18) Learning God’s truth and getting it into our heads is one thing, but living God’s truth and getting it into our character is quite something else. God put young Joseph through thirteen years of tribulation before He made him second ruler of Egypt, and what a great man Joseph turned out to be! God always prepares us for what He is preparing for us, and a part of that preparation is suffering.

In this light, 2 Corinthians 1:5 — For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. * is very important: even our Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer! When we suffer in the will of God, we are sharing the sufferings of the Saviour. This does not refer to His “vicarious sufferings” on the cross, for only He could die as a sinless substitute for us (1 Peter 2:21–25). Paul was referring here to “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10 —I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, * ), the trials that we endure because, like Christ, we are faithfully doing the Father’s will. This is suffering “for righteousness’ sake” (Matt. 5:10–12).

But as the sufferings increase, so does the supply of God’s grace. The word abound suggests the picture of a river overflowing. “But He giveth more grace” (James 4:6). This is an important principle to grasp: God has ample grace for our every need, but He will not bestow it in advance. We come by faith to the throne of grace “that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). The Greek word means “help when you need it, timely help.”Now we can better understand 2 Corinthians 1:9; for, if we could store up God’s grace for emergency use, we would be prone to trust ourselves and not “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). All the resources God gives us may be kept for future use—money, food, knowledge, etc.—but the grace of God cannot be stored away.

Rather, as we experience the grace of God in our daily lives, it is invested into our lives as godly character (see Rom. 5:1–5). This investment pays dividends when new troubles come our way, for godly character enables us to endure tribulation to the glory of God.

There is a “companionship” to suffering: it can draw us closer to Christ and to His people. But if we start to wallow in self-pity, suffering will create isolation instead of involvement. We will build walls and not bridges.

The important thing is to fix your attention on God and not on yourself. Remember what God is to you—“the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). Remember what God does for you—that He is able to handle your trials and make them work out for your good and His glory. Finally, remember what God does through you—and let Him use you to be an encouragement to others. The
The Bible exposition commentary

Isn't that neat? And that's yet one more thing we can do for the Kingdom of God even though we're basically shut ins.  And it does "count" toward our rewards and glory at the Bema Judgment too!

Just out of curiosity though, what are some of the ways God can use our pain for His glory? First, because of our pain, He can use it to draw us closer to Him and into His Word. I know that if I hadn't been hurt, I wouldn't have spent so much time with him and in His Word, so for that reason alone I see my disability as a great blessing because of all He's taught me because of it.

Of course, we each have a choice, we can get mad at Him because of our pain, blame Him, feel sorry for ourselves etc and allow Satan to use our pain to push us away from God; or we can run to His open arms and take comfort from Him, even bringing Him our questions and doubts about why this has happened to us, because He tells us that all we have to do is ask for wisdom about why these things have happened and he will tell us. There's even a third choice we can make...to do nothing either way, but to just ignore God and act like nothing has changed, and/or not even think about Him and if He might be able to help us etc.

Thankfully, sooner or later, the Lord generally gets our attention through the pain and we do draw closer to Him. And then we have to make yet another choice...will we allow Him to use the pain to be drawn into His Word as well, or will we stay away from it?

When we choose to be drawn into His Word as well, that's when the changes inside us can begin and when we can begin to glorify Him through our pain. That's another way He can use our pain to be glorified. As His Word works in us, changing us to be more like Jesus, He is glorified.

The unsaved can more easily become bitter because of their pain, while we know our pain is being used to produce good things in us and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, for we have the hope of our new bodies and eternal life sharing in the glory of our Lord, and the knowledge that our God is comforting us, helping us, guiding us, and working in us, and that when we allow Him to use our pain for His glory, we're actually producing fruit for the Kingdom of God!

Another way He is glorified is when because we know what it's like to live with pain, we can in turn comfort and help others who are going through hard times. We can share with them what God has taught us through our pain and that brings Him glory. We can also be a role model for them showing them what it looks like to be a Christian living for God even though we're in pain or going through trials etc, and that too brings Him glory. It can even be instrumental toward someone coming to salvation someday, just because they saw how different our lives are and how the pain we live with was used for good by God. When that happens, the Lord even gives us credit for their salvation, as well as the person who actually speaks to them and is with them when they're saved and that means yet more glory for the Lord and for us yet another reward.

I was asking Him just what it meant to "glorify His Name" though and what exactly we can do to bring Him glory. So, I looked it up in the dictionary to see what I could find:

GLORIFY — to magnify God through praising His name and honoring His commandments (Ps. 86:12). Jesus also glorified His father through His perfect obedience and His sacrificial death on our behalf (John 17:1). Nelson's new illustrated Bible dictionary.

Just to be sure, I also looked up "magnify": to cause to be held in greater esteem or respect.

So, how do we glorify God in/with our pain?

First, by refusing to allow the pain we're in to prevent us from being obedient to Him; by continuing to go to Him in prayer, talk to Him and by studying His Word with Him.

Second, by remembering that He is a God of hope, a God who gives good gifts, a God of comfort, etc, which should put a smile on our faces because of all that we know He is going to do for us because of this pain. I'll be honest here, at this time in my life, I consider myself much more blessed then those people who don't have to live with pain. I honestly wouldn't trade places with them even if I could because there's no way I'd give up all He's done, all He's still doing and all He has for me because of it!

Third, by remembering that there are others out there that haven't gotten to where we are yet, others we can comfort, and help, sharing with them what the Lord has done for us; for the Lord expects us to share that with others and not keep it to ourselves. That's what Paul meant when he said this:

2 Corinthians 1:6 —If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. * 
 

Then add in the rest of these verses to see how they all fit together:

1 Thessalonians 1:3 —We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. *

Romans 5:2–4 —  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. *  Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, *  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, *

James 1:2–4  — Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, *  because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. *  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. * (another word for perseverance is endurance; and the word for "complete" is also used for spiritual maturity)

One big way we can glorify His Name through our pain is to constantly keep in mind all that we're gaining because of it so we can "consider it all pure joy", and offer our Lord praise and thanksgiving for all He's doing for us and in us because of the pain. I'm not saying we should thank Him for the pain, though I honestly have at times, even though I don't enjoy it or like it; but because I DO like all He's accomplishing with it. That's what put's a smile on my face and keeps me going every day.

There are times though when the pain gets so bad that it's hard to remember the good that's coming from it. When I can't stand it anymore, I tell Him so. I take it as long as I possibly can, and then I just confess to Him that I need a break...I just can't take it any more...I need some relief, for the pain to subside at least for a little while. He has never failed me when I've asked that, but then I'm careful not to ask Him for that unless I really am at that point. The pain doesn't ease up instantly, but usually by the time I'm done crying, I realize it's not quite so bad anymore.  When it does ease up, one of the best things to do during our "break time" is to go to His Word and remind ourselves of all of this, so that we'll be ready when it returns.

Let's face it, we're soldiers in a war, literally! Usually those of us who live with pain feel like we've been sidelined since we aren't able to do very much physically and often can't even go to church. I'll tell you a secret that the Lord shared with me though. We're NOT on the sidelines, we're the special forces infantry! We're on the front lines my friend! No, we may not be able to stand and help in soup kitchens or do many of the other things that the body of Christ does to help others, but then they get their recognition from men when they do those things. Since what we do is done in the privacy of our hearts and every day lives at home with God, our reward will come from Him. I'll show you a couple of example of this so you'll see this isn't just my idea. Although the examples are about prayer and giving, it applies to everything we do/think and say.

Matthew 6:2–4  —  “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. *  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, *  so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. *
Matthew 6:5–6  —  “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. * But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. *

So stand tall (or as tall as the pain allows) put on a smile, knowing that you are one of God's special children that He is grooming for BIG things. You're not on the sidelines, regardless of what the world thinks or even what other Christians think. We know better. We're down in the trenches, living our faith for His glory and He will reward us greatly for that because we can do more for God's Kingdom doing this then a dozen can do serving in a soup line or whatever!