Pain

At a few churches I've been to, we took prayer requests during the services. It’s an old tradition in churches, and one that has fallen away in many congregations… maybe for good reason. I remember, when I was younger, these prayer request times turning into sessions to gripe about neighbors, children, the pastor, or the music. You know, “Please remember Sister Sally. She’s really having a hard time adjusting to these new songs.” Or they could turn into sneaky gossip sessions, veiled in concern for the souls of those they’re praying for. “Pray for Brother Steve, you know he’s trying to quit them cigarettes but the devil is really fighting him. I saw him outside the A&P just puffing away. Remember his wife and kids who are being lied to every day by their sinful daddy.”

At the last church I attended, each Wednesday, I would sit up in the balcony, running media and sound, and listen to those requests and wonder at how a small group of people can be experiencing or have friends or loved ones that are experiencing so much pain. Sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, grandparents, all going through some sort of affliction, big or small, internal or external. Sure, we see and hear miracles here and there. My mother-in-law is a testament to the power and healing graces of God. We have those miracles in front of us each time we gathered as a church family, and yet that drumbeat of pain and suffering goes on, echoing through our lives, our families, our hearts and our minds.

It doesn’t stop at the borders of our hearts. That beat goes on and on throughout society. One day, some kids go to school and a madman bent on destruction opens fire, ending lives much too short. Thousands of people – people content to go about their lives without intruding on others’ – find themselves run from their towns and villages because their God isn’t the “right” God. Families learn that mom or dad is suddenly without a job due to an overreaching government, a corrupt set of leaders in the business, or simple supply and demand.

And this finds its way into every single human being on the planet.

In the church world, we often get caught up in this line of thinking that says we have to categorize and sort people, then slap labels on them and deem them our equals or as less than human. Those divisions take the form of denominations, “Those Catholics sure aren’t going to heaven!”; geographic locations, “Those northern churches aren’t as spiritual as we are in the south!”; gender, “Women shouldn’t be preaching!”; and definitely we know who are the sinners and who aren’t. Right? Because we have it all together!

And there are some of our more famous fellow Christians, and I won’t mention any names here [[Pat Robertson]] who get on TV and make absolute fools of themselves by saying things like, Hurricane Katrina was God’s retribution for America’s having John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. And here I can see God, up there on the throne, looking down at the 700 Club, begging Pat to stop talking.

While we’re thinking about preachers and Hurricanes. I remember, after that year with all the hurricanes, 2005, seeing Jesse Duplantis on TV talking about it. I don’t really have an issue with Jesse, at least not until this moment when he said something to the effect of him watching the weather channel, and seeing this hurricane coming, and he walked out onto his porch and he told it not to hit his home in Baton Rouge. And the crowd shouted and someone ran, I’m sure, because of the testament of this man’s great faith. But, being slightly cynical as I am, I wondered, “Why would God care more about Jesse Duplantis, and less about all those poor saps in New Orleans?” Again, it’s a great story to get people’s faith worked up, but it again strikes a division between us. I know New Orleans isn’t a holy city, but surely there were good Godly people there, right? So how can I move a hurricane, or ask God to move a hurricane and rain on and flood a bunch of other people, and destroy their homes? The answer to that question doesn’t matter because it’s an unnecessary question.

Jesus addressed this phenomenon of pain, talking about God, when he said:

…He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45)

In Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus gives us a wealth of instruction, exhortations, and maxims with which we can live out our walk with him. Here we find the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus turns everything about society and its power structures over on its head.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. (Matthew 5:3-11)

The poor in spirit own heaven.

The merciful will receive mercy.

The mourning shall be comforted.

The gentle shall inherit the earth.

This is a powerful statement for the time that Jesus spoke it. If you think about history, and who he was speaking to, this is a dynamic phrase. The Jews here were an occupied people. Conquered. The Romans were the most powerful force on earth and they took over the Holy Land by force. So then Jesus comes along and says that the gentle, or meek shall inherit the earth. It doesn’t make sense.

Blessed are the persecuted.

Blessed are you when people insult you.

Rejoice and be glad…

A lot of times we stop after those “beatitudes.” But Jesus goes on. He calls his followers the salt of the earth, and warns them not to lose their flavor. And he goes on with the metaphors. Jesus, never one to back off offending someone’s sensibilities, continues. He attacks their image of their religious rules. “You have heard this, but I say this.” His final exhortation is not to love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but love your neighbor and pray for those that persecute you.

What?

If these people thought that Jesus was the Messiah, and they know how God acted in the Old Testament with the judgments and the conquering and all that, and maybe they were expecting that from Jesus. You have to remember that they didn’t have 2000 years of Christian teaching and exposure to the message of Christ behind them. So to hear him say, basically, "Deal with it," because the prophets before were treated the same was quite a shock to his audience. And not just deal with it, but pray for the ones beating you to death.

So, you know... thanks Jesus!

But what is the point in all of this? Jesus is saying that it rains on the just and the unjust. Meaning, I think, that pain and troubles are the order of the day. It happens, man. We often argue about whether God caused things, or he allows them… I don’t know, but I think thats the wrong question. Things happen. Pain comes. It’s a part of life. Jesus is more concerned with our response to it.

David, in the Psalms is all the time talking about pain. In Psalm 69:29 he says,

"But I am afflicted and in pain; May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high."

Peter, Paul, Job, Jeremiah, Solomon, John all speak of pain. Pain is a universal experience in Scripture. And if we think about it, it is a universal experience today. Everyone feels pain at some level and in some way.

Sometimes we feel as though there is something wrong with us, or we’re made to feel as though we’re doing something wrong, and that is causing our pain. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Pain is ok. Pain is necessary. CS Lewis said:

“… pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

It is in our Pain that God gets our attention. Again, this is not saying that God caused your pain. But what is for sure is that he sees your pain. He knows what you are going through. His desire is not for you to wallow in your pain and succumb to it. His desire is for you to turn to him.

#devotions #jesus #God #pain #relief #CSLewis #church #sermon