“Pain is a result of the curse, and it’s most often a symptom of sin. But sometimes it’s a gift from God. It’s the language that can’t be ignored. You can leave the Bible on your bedside table untouched. You can ignore desires, dreams, doors, promptings, and people. But you can’t ignore pain . . .”- Mark Batterson
As Mark Batterson continues Chapter 11 of Whisper, he stresses that many prominent people in Scripture endured dark nights of the soul. However, they also had one additional, significant thing in common. In their darkest hours they heard God’s whisper. And by His grace, they all came out the other side.
Therefore, Pastor Batterson’s prayer for you isn’t that you’d be pain-free. Rather, he prays that you discern God’s loving voice in the midst of your pain.
Most noteworthy, Mark posits that the healing of the lepers represents the miracle Jesus repeated more than any other. Among other things, the author states, curing leprosy restored the leper’s sense of touch. Because leprosy numbed those affected to the world around them, the disease caused great danger. And when Jesus restored their sense of touch, that included both pleasure and pain.
Yet, as Mark explains, most of us prefer gain with no pain. He writes:
“Let’s be honest. Most of us prefer this philosophy: no pain, no pain. We opt for the path of least resistance, but that doesn’t get us where God wants us to go. I’m certainly not suggesting that we need to seek out pain. Pain will find us soon enough. But when pain comes, we shouldn’t try to go around it. Instead, we need to go through it and learn to discern what God is saying through pain, through grief, and through suffering.”
Today’s question: What past pain in your life do you now see as a gift from God? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Getting out of difficult circumstances”
