Pain – My Hearing Test

Today (August 1st) was a hard day. A day filled with pain. Several hours were filled with multiple and constant muscle cramps in my feet, legs, hands, arms, and neck. The pain can be intense and unrelenting. The muscles feel like they will constrict until they explode. There is little to nothing I can do except LISTEN.

C.S. Lewis wrote, "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."

When the pain volume went up here is what I heard.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53: 3, 5

Slapped, spat upon, beaten, scorched, crown of thorns, and torture of the crucifixion.

As if the physical pain was not enough, Jesus also experienced the pain of
· Being falsely accused
· Misunderstood by the masses
· Betrayed by a disciple
· Abandoned by his friends

Most amazing to me is that this was pain by choice. It was not result of disease or the consequence of poor choices and sin.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Jesus suffered pain for me. Incredibly, this was God’s plan before the foundations of the world. Pain endured that I might one day experience a heavenly home absent of tears and pain.

As I listen more carefully, the terrible sound of His pain flows with lyrics of an eternal love song of mercy, forgiveness, and grace.

Father,
Thank you for the gift of pain...a gentle reminder of your overwhelming sacrifice of love. Help me in every experience of pain to know you more intimately and hear your heartbeat next to mine.
Lord, my body and life are on your altar…
And I am listening,
Dan