Pain and Suffering

Sometimes, in life, difficult circumstances arise, and no matter how hard we try to understand God's reasoning, we find it impossible to see through the dark cloud that surrounds us. As human beings, we want to know why. Why was it that a fifteen year old child was called home to her Father at such a tender age? Why is it that an unknown and unsolvable disease riddles the body with pain? Why is it that the job that would finally bring a family out of debt was given to another applicant? Why is it that everyday at school you are made fun of? Why is it that no one on this planet understands? Why is there even pain and suffering at all?
At times like these, we have to remember that whatever trouble, whatever pain ails us...it is His doing. 1 Kings 12:24 contains four words that, if truly understood, can change confusing pain into comfort. "This is my doing."
Think about that for a moment. Our Father and Creator, the all-powerful mighty God, let the pain happen for a reason. How can we fear, how can we possibly be afraid of the unknown when the One who controls the entire universe is holding us?
Now when pain happens, the cliche sayings such as: "Everything happens for a reason." "Iron is strengthened through fire." and "How can you know love if you don't know pain?" always seem to surface. And, unfortunately, after hearing them for years, we chalk them off as what they have become...cliche. But let's pretend that you've never heard of these sayings before and they were first introduced to you in this, your time of hardship.
The first, "Everything happens for a reason." is a direct link to a true belief in our Father. Do you honestly think that He is not in control of what is happening? The Creator, who clothes the flowers of the field and fills the birds of the air, would not care for the one's He sent His only flesh and blood to die for? Jesus didn't die for the flowers or the birds; He died for us. If we were so important to God that His Son was crucified and brutally murdered for us, don't you think that He would have a plan for you, His beloved child? The plain and simple answer is: He does. He has not abandoned you but is holding you close to Him. For all things happen for His glory and for our good.
This brings us to the second saying, "Iron is strengthened through fire." Who are we to wonder if the God of Moses, who sent down the Ten Commandments, has ever done anything to harm his children? Many of us know the Ten Commandments by heart and follow them the best as any sinful mortal can. Think about these rules for a moment, though. These commands are for our good. To be a stand up and honest person just makes the world a better place to live. Stealing a life helps no one, it causes hurt and anger and even revenge. None of these feelings are good for us to feel. Then perhaps we can also say that the fire we are put through also is for our own good? Nothing, and I mean nothing, that God has ever done has been without a reason and for any other good than our own and for His glory.
The last saying is perhaps the most difficult to accept. "How can you know love, if you don't know pain?" The truth of the matter is, we would like to be happy all the time. We want to play, not work. We want to enjoy life, not be bogged down by its difficulties. But think of Christ. Think of the pain that He suffered through, not for Himself, but so that we could know love. Even God has known pain. Think of how much pain a Son would feel to be forsaken by His own Father and to die an achingly slow death hung merely by the tendons of his hands ripped through by nails, and struggling to provide His hands relief by putting weight on the feet that a stake is driven through? That is pain. Excrutiating physical, emotional, and spiritual pain. But that pain was for us. He did that so that we can know the ultimate love and joy of living with Him. Even God went through the pain of life and death in order to bring joy. Christ is our living example. He knew pain in order to know love. And to follow Him means to accept the pain and the fires and the unknown reasons so that we too may know His ultimate love.