There are times when God permits pain to change us.  So how much pain does it take?  My son helped me with an answer. 

My little guy discovered scissors.  With them he began to disassemble his world.   He lopped off hair, altered his clothes, tried to shear metal, and destroyed a lot of good stuff. 

We instructed him in the proper use of scissors.  It had all the effect of a pea shooter on armored personnel carrier.    He snipped and I sniped.  I told him to cut it out.  He did.  He amputated Barbie’s arm.  He was oblivious to the pain it caused his sister (not to mention Barbie).

So, it came down to this, “Son if you cut anything else belonging to someone else, then you will have to take your best most favorite action figure and cut off his leg.” 

Another pea repelled.  He did it again.  I said son, “Pick out your best most favorite action figure.  He rooted through his toys and came back holding sad Colonel Potter from the TV show M.A.S.H. 

I said, “Son, that’s not your favorite.  Try again.”    He took 10 minutes and returned.  He was sniffling as he presented to me – Darth Vader.

I handed him the scissors and he began to wail.  I prodded him on.  He kept hesitating and then with trembling hand he finally severed the leg.  I silently held him as he cried.  And Darth was the last thing he ever cut. 

This is what I learned, “When the pleasure of our behavior outweighs the pain of change – there will be no change.  But when the pain of it, outweighs the pleasure, then change comes. 

The man was told to eat healthy and lose weight or risk a heart attack.  But eating was his pleasure.   He eventually had an attack and barely survived.  Suddenly the pain of continuing to eat, outweighed the pleasure.  He changed!

OK, but does God use pain? I believe He does.  Pharaoh enslaved and abused God’s people.  Moses spoke for God saying, “Pharaoh, let them go.” 

He refused.  The benefit of having slaves, outweighed the discomfort that would come by liberating them.

So, God turned the Nile to blood.  No change!   Then the frog invasion, and the itchy irksome flies.  Increased pain – no change. 

Then the livestock got sick, and boils broke out, and hail fell and decimated the land, and then a profound darkness fell upon Egypt.  Still no change. 

Finally, the firstborn of Pharaoh fell ill and died.  When it became utterly personal –  when the pain really came home to him, then he obeyed.  

And then there is the prodigal son of Luke 15.  He left home to pursue the pleasure of wine and women.   He partied until he found himself in a pigpen hungering for the swine slop. 

It was then that he “came to his senses.”  (15:17) He returned home with a new attitude towards God and his father. 

Let me tell you my heart was breaking for my son as he grieved the loss of Darth Vader.   It was hard.  I loved him and I knew that change was necessary.

Like a loving surgeon God uses pain to bring healing to people and even to nations.

So, how much pain does it take?   Enough to precipitate heathy change. 

I try to be sensitive to the Lord and obedient to His Word.  If change needs to occur in my life, I usually cooperate. 

Of course, pain is a standard part of life, and I am not surprised to suffer from time to time.  But if I experience a season of pain, I seek the Lord.  I ask if there is something He would have changed in my life. 

Oh, and by the way, when my son turned 30.  I hid the scissors at his house and gifted him with a vintage Darth Vader action figure.

A Prayer: Lord we do not need unnecessary pain.  Tune our ears to your will and give us the grace to embrace healthy change.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.