Wounded and Sick: Things That Cripple Your Faith

Pain the Killer

•Pain: The Killer•

Not physical necessarily; but emotional, mental, and spiritual. Pain is a natural defense system; it teaches us what not to do. However, it can also distract us from the fact that it will ease. We take what is meant to teach and help us, and dwell on it until it turns into something more harmful. 

"I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” (Job 3:26)

-Pain can throw you into turmoil and unrest. In my personal opinion, Job is the best example of someone in pain- every kind of pain imaginable- and how to best handle it. 

So what can we learn from how Job handled his pain? I see a three-step process here: 

"The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken". (Psalms 34:17‭-‬20)

1. Pray and cry out to God in your times of pain.

- He will come to You. He does hear You. He might not come right away or in the way you expect Him to come, but He will come. 

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)

 2. Confide in others.

-I originally was going to say to confide in others who will encourage you, which is true, however I think it's more than that. We need to confide in others who will be honest with us.

Let me try to explain this by looking at Job's friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. These men definitely weren't the best confidants for Job to seek encouragement from, but they were not necessarily bad friends. 

Job's Friends

First, they came to comfort him ("When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him." Job 2:11) and they mourned with him in the face of his suffering ("When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was." Job 2:12‭-‬13). Find people who will see your pain, come to you to comfort you, and mourn it with you. 

  Second, and most important (and overlooked) they were honest-brutally honest- with him. Even though their words were not comforting or even necessarily correct, they were not afraid to tell him the truth. This is a really good quality in a friend or confidant. ("Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." Proverbs 27:6)

"But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." (1 Peter 3:14‭-‬16)

 3. Have a lifeline.

-All through the accusations and scorn thrown at Job, he held firm on the one assurance he had and believed in fully: that his sin did not cause his afflictions. He refused to be convinced that his pain was God-sent punishment, and he clung to that belief.

-Lots of times, it is helpful for us too to have some undeniable truth to cling to. Whether it is something as clear as the simple truth of who God is or something more specific and personal to you, it will give you a defense. Something to throw back in pain’s face-Satan’s face- when it tries to drag you down.

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:8‭-‬17)

-Our pain here, emotional or otherwise, is temporary. God is with us in that pain and is actually using it to His advantage to bring glory to His Name and help you grow closer to Him.