Pain--God's Megaphone

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world" C.S. Lewis


Pain seems to have a universal reaction among humans. We all seek to get rid of it, and if we believe in God we begin to question him about what is going on. Pain has a stripping away effect that brings the important things in life to the forefront of our thoughts. God often uses devastation and pain to make us aware of our arrogant self-sufficiency. We don't realize we are, until one day, pain comes crashing down us. It is then that we say with the Psalmist, "I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you." 


Hebrews says we are are looking to a better country, a heavenly one, and that God has prepared a city for us. We never long for the city of God more than when we are confronted with pain. Pain often causes us to love this world much less, and to long for God's kingdom to come. The Lord's prayer for the Kingdom to come is no longer a meaningless cliche that rolls off our lips, but becomes a deep heart cry, a groaning expectation for a new creation. 


All that is contrary to heaven should have this effect on the believer. When we see family and friends die it is a clear reminder to us that the kingdom has not come, that this world is still broken, and we desperately need the maker to come and fix it (and us). Knowing all this does not make pain less painful, but it does bring it into perspective and help us turn our hearts toward God. 


May God so lift our hearts that we might see pain as an instrument in the hands of a loving Father who will soon put an end to all pain. 


For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.