Pain - The Game Changer

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:17-19)

Everyone born on this earth goes through times of pain, be it physical, emotional or mental. "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble." (Job 14:1)

Pain can come through the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship, the betrayal of a close friend, a rebellious child, etc. But, regardless of how pain comes, we have to make a decision about what we are going to do with it. Making the right choice in dealing with the pain is of paramount importance because pain can make or break a person.

Sadly, many make a choice to run away from the pain by using some method of numbing, like numbing the pain with food, achievements, drugs, alcohol or some promiscuous relationship (which they know deep inside is not right).

Numbing your pain never makes it go away; it only silences our desperate screams for help. Numbing the pain only imprisons the person going through it.

It creates an emptiness within us. It slowly kills the potential to trust someone again and love someone again. It kills the potential to truly connect with someone because now we have built defence mechanisms around us to protect us from future pain.

The worst part of numbing our pain is it kills our relationship with God too. We become hard even towards God and His presence. Pain can cause a person to create boundaries that he or she may never cross in their lifetime.

On the other hand, pain can be an instrument of great change. Pain can bring us really close to the Lord. This is when we surrender our pain to the Lord and invite Him in. (James 4:8) reminds us that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. When we invite Him close, He always accepts our invitation. A season of pain and hopelessness is what brought me to the Lord. I was on the verge of committing suicide. The Lord was gracious and comforted me in my pain.

He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:2-3)

Pain will always show us how weak and helpless we are and how we can't heal ourselves from the pain. However, if we make a choice to let go and give our pain to the Lord, we will discover that His grace is sufficient for us, and His strength is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Pain is not the real enemy. In fact, pain is a great indicator that something is broken; something is not right. Pain has a purpose in our lives. It is my prayer that your pain will cause you to break every boundary, every limitation and do things that may have never been done before.