Pain isn’t easy. It is not supposed to be. Pain is a warning that things are not as they are supposed to be. Most of us experience physical pain when we exceed the normal limits of our design or something is growing where it was not intended. We tend to experience emotional pain on a whole scale of imaginable levels when outcomes do not match expectations in personal relationships. And we know spiritual pain when we get out of step with the plan and process of the creator God whether we understand what that is or not.
My left hand aches today. I did way too much lifting and scrapping and twisting yesterday for the condition it is in. My warning is to strengthen the muscles and recognize that it has not fully recovered from the recent surgery I had. Emotionally I ache for my friends who have recently received ominous news about their physical condition and are awaiting the outcome of medical tests. Then there is the one who survived a moment’s inattention while driving and the hours in emergency room care. Some folks are struggling with being older and not as able while rejoicing in still being around. They all hurt physically and emotionally and I connect with that pain, aching for them as well. But to be totally honest, these are temporary pains and discomforts. Bodies heal, time and kindness minimize emotional impact. My friends and I will recover or not, it sounds a bit harsh but it is just the facts of life. Then my attention will be moved to the next crisis, emotion or trauma.
Yet underlying each experience, each event is the knowledge that there is a piece we do not control. A piece of life which is the foundation and underpinning for all we endure. It is the Spiritual implication. We are created, the Bible tells us, in the image of God. Some folks believe and accept that, some do not. Belief in the wisdom of a stop sign at an intersection does not change the consequences of ignoring the sign. Nor does denying the existence of God change the reality of it. I have noticed two things in the lies of those who deny Him. One is that they seem to expend a great deal of time and energy proclaiming their rejection of His existence. The second is that they seem to ignore the obvious in order to postulate the ridiculous. Both of those cause them a great deal of Spiritual pain. And they can get so emotionally entangled in their defense of their twisted logic that it is possible for them to experience physical pain.
Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. God is real because He says He is. I know He is because He has convinced my reasoning faculties that nothing else can be the explanation for His miraculous intervention in my life. He walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am His. Those who deny Him would say all of this is just my internal justification for things which appear beyond my control. And that causes me a bit of pain.
O what a pain we feel when we live like He is not real!