Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: pain

how much pain does it take? — November 1, 2023

how much pain does it take?

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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.

does God ever cause us pain? — November 9, 2022

does God ever cause us pain?

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Does God ever cause us pain?   Well, to be sure most pain in this life comes from elsewhere.   Disease and death afflict us simply because we belong to a fallen human race.   As Paul said in Romans 5:12, “So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned.”

Some suffering comes to us by the deliberate hands of ornery people.  Paul reported in 2 Timothy 4:14, “Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm.”   

Some of it isn’t quite so deliberate, like the way I hurt my wife’s feelings yesterday.  I attribute that to being a hapless victim of the fallen human race (but I still apologized).

There is a pain that comes because of our own foolish choices.  Solomon asked, “Can a man walk on hot coals without scorching his feet?” – Proverbs 6:28.

And some suffering comes to us directly from the bowels of hell.  Paul wrote, “there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.” –   2 Cor 12:7 KJV.

These things tend to harm us.

But what about God?  Does God ever cause us pain? 

I gained insight into this question when my youngest was about three.  He complained of a painful earache.  My wife took him to our family physician – a kind and considerate man.   The doc took an instrument and gently probed his ear.

The boy cried and jerked himself away.  He then looked the doc in the eye and in his little toddler voice he asked, “Why you hurt me?” 

The doctor indeed was causing the boy pain.  But it was a necessary pain – the first step on the way to eliminating a greater pain.  If the condition had gone untreated, there would have been sad and irreparable consequences.  This pain wasn’t intended to harm, but to heal.

I see the same loving approach by our Father in heaven.  The author of Hebrews wrote, “My son, do not scorn the Lord’s discipline or give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.” Hebrews 12:5-6

This discipline is not punitive, it is concerned with training.  Picture God as a devoted parent or even an effective athletic coach.  

With that in mind let me quote the next 2 verses of Hebrews 12, from the Message Bible,

“God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children.” Hebrews 12:7-8

But is it painful?  You bet!  Verse 11 says, “Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it.”

Coach Guido caused me an immense amount of pain during football practice, but when I excelled in the game, I was grateful for the pain in the preparation.  

It’s a lot to grasp.  We have a Father in heaven who knows us well and has a personal plan for each of us – to shore up our weaknesses, heal our imperfections and to develop and strengthen us.  In fact, He sovereignly uses any and every pain that comes to us to that end.

“Why you hurt me,” my son asked.  The doc was stunned and didn’t know what to say, but he pulled my son’s little head to his chest to give him a gentle hug.  He was genuinely sad that pain had to be a part of the healing.

I am thinking that God feels the same way about our pain – necessary but sad. 

So, the next time pain brings a tear to your eye, know that there may be one in the eye of the Father as well.   

A PRAYER: Lord help discern the ways in which you are personally training us.

This has been Jim Johnson with pickleheavenpress.com 

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 

Scripture references are from the NETBible.com unless otherwise noted.