The Problem of Pain

C.S. Lewis’ chapter on human pain challenged me and refreshed me with truth. Yet while Lewis offers us an explanation on the purpose of pain, he does not have all the answers. I think the questions and tensions surrounding the concept of pain will never be fully answered until we reach heaven. Nonetheless, while we cannot rest in the assurance of leading a painless life and we inevitably face pain, we can rest in the character and goodness of our God.

When looking at pain, I have been tempted to believe that God must not be as faithful as he promised to be; he must have forgotten me for a time. The lies that Satan throws our way when we are overcome by pain is that horrible circumstances reflect God’s unloving and imperfect character. We, or at least I, am so ready to believe in those first moments that the Lord is not who he says he is. Yet once we come close to God in our pain, his Holy Spirit reveals to us that God is truly good and faithful. And this revelation is even more beautiful than before. We can grasp onto it with a desperate and thankful heart, because God has stripped us of all that we were grasping onto before. C.S. Lewis puts it beautifully: “God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.”

As Americans, most of us live a very comfortable life. Everything is at our fingertips. We can “have” so much in this life. We often say, “We have been so blessed to have all of these things.” But is it not also a curse? We become so easily distracted and obsessed with what God has given us. If he gave us just enough to survive, maybe we would be quicker to turn to Him in thanks and worship. We take God’s gift, and we greedily worship it, quickly forgetting the one who graciously gave it. I shared this verse in a previous blog, but I think it applies: “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts” (1 John 5:21). If these things are threatening to take God’s place in our hearts, we should flee them until they no longer threaten to own our hearts. Fasting from these things for a time could be a great defensive weapon to keep them far from the throne of our lives. As to pain, God uses it to do just that: to distance these things from our hearts.”

Such pain may appear purposeless from our human perspective. But we are only permitted to see a small portion of the big picture. Pain reminds us that there is a big picture; living for the pleasures of the moment does not constitute life. When we reach the understanding “that all these toys were never intended to possess [our] heart, that [our] true good is in another world and [our] only real treasure is Christ,” we get a glimpse of God’s beautiful and marvelous purpose.