“Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered”.
Hebrews 5:8
For those who walk with God, with a genuine heart, every pain has a purpose because He specializes in converting pain to purpose.
In order wards God will always produce a testimony from pain only if we can cooperate with Him.
Isaiah 66:9 sheds more light on how God converts pain to purpose saying “Will I bring it to the point of birth and then not bring it forth?” says Jehovah”.
Some versions have further translated this verse to mean “ I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born, says the Lord”.
The key thing is to pay attention to the purpose of your pain or else one will miss the overall purpose. But it will only take the leading of the Holy Spirit for us to really understand the purpose of our pain.
In order words only the Holy Spirt can give us a satisfactory answer to our “ Why” in understanding the purpose of pain.
The book of Proverbs 1:20–23 makes reference to those who missed out on the plan and purpose of God in their lives, not understanding the lesson of pain or discipline because they were naive, disobedient and outright foolish:
“How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing. And fools hate knowledge?
We must never be so far away from the word of God as to be insensitive to what God is calling our attention to in life’s pain.
God called the attention of the following great men away from their pain, to pay attention to their divine purpose : Job, Abraham, Isaac Jacob, Moses and David. And today we celebrate them as heroes of faith.
Some have called this process “God’s school of hard-knocks”.
God is not a wicked God who delights in inflicting pain upon his creatures but delights in helping to birth something new in the lives of those who will cooperate with Him.
As King David reflected on his walk with God he said: “ Your gentleness has made me great”. What does this mean? It means God through David’s pains, wars and backsliding gently nurtured him into greatness.
Through his pain David acknowledged that God was a patient and loving teacher even as David cooperated with God.
Like David, we should know that some disciplines are necessary to fulfill certain purposes in our lives and to deepen our experience with God.
David wrote most of the book of Psalms not in the bed of comfort but in caves and war fronts battling for his life.
Some in pain have asked: “ Why do I suffer this nagging pain that others are spared from?
Because you have a different calling from others and your curriculum must be fit for purpose.
Do you feel like your life’s journey is filled with broken glasses and scared legs?
If you listen enough to the Holy Spirit you may hear God assigning you to a specific purpose and also training you for such purpose as well.
God trained Paul through what he suffered to emerge as one of the greatest Apostles of Jesus Christ. He later became a reference to millions of believers in fortitude, resilience, and an overcoming faith.
As you listen to the Holy Spirit in whatever difficulty you may be going through know that God is preparing your life to serve as a reference point for victory to many.
You will succeed in Jesus name.
Readings: 2 Corinthians 4: 7-18
