God Allows Pain

2 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Corinthians 13:12

Pain is real. Do you know any people who have suffered zero pain? But it’s hard for us to understand. It doesn’t seem fair of  God to let Paul suffer a thorn in the flesh. Or your friend to have ALS. Or a child to die. We want to apply our human reasoning, and it is just insufficient to explain things this side of heaven. The very word “disease” embodies our problem: we are in “dis-ease” when it comes to pain.

Questions for further thought:
1. Has someone’s suffering ever caused you to doubt God, maybe even doubt his existence?
2. What brings you back around to faith in the presence of pain, whether your own or others’?

Challenge: Mentally observe a current instance of pain, great or small, for you or someone else. Take a good look at the reality of it. It’s OK to mourn for that pain, because we are human. Now ask God for the strength to truly surrender control of that pain to His everlastingly loving care.