ACCOMMODATING THE PAIN!

In 2006 I had surgery on both my hips because of extremely painful arthritis. I had suffered severe pain for several years and the surgical procedure (hip resurfacing) was very successful—and I’ve not had any hip pain since that time!

Not long after the surgery one of Carol’s sisters, Barb Mackery, came to visit us. As she came through the front door I went to greet her. Barb smiled as she saw me walking and said, “David, you are taller!” I had some kind of smart response about having always been six feet three inches tall and the conversation passed on. 

We had a delightful visit with Barb but I was left with a nagging question, “Whatever did she mean when she said I was taller; how could that possibly be?” Over the next couple of days I thought about this and then suddenly the light went on. (Canadians are a little slow this way. Being raised in the north where it’s cold causes the electricity to flow a little slower and therefore the lights go on a little more slowly . . . but they do come on!)

I realized that in order to minimize the pain in my hips and back I had changed my posture. The most comfortable position I could find was being slightly stooped. But with the pain gone, I no longer needed to bend over—and I could stand at full stature.

And then something else hit me full force. Most of the pain we experience in life has little or nothing to do with aches and agony in our body but more to do with those things that hurt our “inner man.” The the pain of a broken relationship; the pain of an unrealized dream; the pain of failure; the pain of the death of a loved one—the list could go on and on. The fact is that we all suffer pain, most of which has no connection to a physical cause.

My arthritis had caused me to try to find a posture that minimized the pain. I didn’t realize I was adopting a modified position, but I was.

Understanding this caused another question to arise. If physical pain caused me to live my life at less than full stature, what does the “pain in the rest of life” do to me? Is it possible that I am living life spiritually at less than full stature because of some of the disappointments and hurts of the past?

It is not God’s desire or design for us to live in an accommodating position. He wants us to be mature and complete. He wants us to be as tall as we are supposed to be!

Some people try to accommodate the pain of life by numbing it out through the use of drugs and/or alcohol. Chemicals sometimes simply mask the pain and may actually cause the user to hurt himself more severely as he acts as though he has no pain, that nothing is hurting. But actually the cause of the pain is still there and the user hurts himself, not realizing what is happening.

So what is the answer to the “pains” of life? I wish I could give you a neat “packaged” answer but I can’t.

I do know a couple of things about pain, about the Word of God, and God’s desire for His people to stand tall in maturity and freedom:

1.      Pain gets our attention and assists us in knowing that a problem exists and that we need help. Pain will either push us away from God or cause us to draw close to Him, but the choice is ours.

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now Your word do I keep [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it]” (Psalm 119:67, Amplified Bible).

2.      Pain is a teacher and to start with, it will teach us patience and obedience, if we will let it.

“Knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance” (Romans 5:3, Amplified).

           

             “He learned obedience through what He suffered"               (Hebrews 5:8). 

3.      The Lord wants you to stand tall and strong in Him. He wants to set you free from anything that is crippling your spirit.

“One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue,  He saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight.  When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said, ‘Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!’ Then He touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!” (Luke 13:10-13, NLT).

Don’t accommodate the pain. Let the Lord heal you and set you free!