CONSIDER A WOMAN ill for twelve years who had spent all the money she had on doctors, but never found healing or relief for her pain. She heard stories about the healing miracles of Jesus, and one day she heard that he was in her town. She mustered her strength, and went out looking for him. It wasn’t difficult to find him, for the town was small, and there was an excited crowd. She pushed her way through, elbowing some, sidestepping or ducking under others. She came close to the densest part of the throng, and caught a glimpse of the healer. “She thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (Mark 5:28) And reaching an arm through the closely packed bodies, she felt the rough fabric of his robe. “ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.” (Mark 5:29) Her story gives us hope. But her story is not everyone’s story.
The nature of pain is that it produces suffering. Pain is the body’s signal to seek healing, so people go to doctors. Un-remediated pain, long-time chronic pain, is a cause of much suffering. People go to doctors and get no relief, so they go to other doctors, and others. The pain begins by turning their focus away from the normal things of life, many of which bring enjoyment, or at least the enjoyment of routine. As the pain escalates and lengthens, the thought life pivots towards thinking increasingly about the pain. As the pain persists, and grows in intensity, the mental life becomes consumed in the ever-present siren call of pain, and all of life, body soul and spirit, becomes dedicated to serving it. This is the life of suffering, and it is now the next normal. All of the activities of life have had to adapt to this.
Suffering is a fully-orbed condition of body, soul and spirit. The body, in its pain, does not suffer alone. The nature of suffering is that it produces a loss of hope. This is not separated from the physical pain, but it is a different kind of pain, one that chronically fatigues mind, soul, and spirit. Suffering is a partner of pain, and with time, completes the equation that produces hopelessness. P + S + T = h-. Pain has completed its task, and hopelessness has killed the zoe of soul and spirit. This is the worst kind of pain.
The individual does not suffer alone. Suffering with them are those closest to them—for as long as they can, and as much as they can. For the relationships knotted together by pain all inexorably and inevitably change because of the dynamic of strain that the suffering brings to the relationships. Now the suffering is systemic, and all who are touched by it experience it to varying degrees. And everyone’s activities change to adapt to their own new normal. Pain and suffering are harsh masters.
There is potential value to suffering, but it requires a deep transformation of core values. The bible says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Pro. 13:12) Catholics have a saying that evangelicals might benefit by reflecting upon: “Offer it up.” Meaning, “Father, I use this pain to focus upon you, and I thank you for causing me to use my suffering to think about you, your majesty, and your love for me. I thank you that this brings me momentary relief, and that one day I will be fully free of this pain.” This is indeed of eternal value, and as a spiritual discipline, accepting suffering can indeed relieve a person, not of their daily suffering, but in their day-to-day suffering. In fact, because of suffering, many throughout history have left such a testimony about their own journey through pain that this has left a transferrable legacy of hope for those who can receive it and act upon it.
Jesus came so that people “may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) Some he heals physically, in a miraculous way, and he has done so across millennia. But he offers hope to all, and that hope is a healing of spirit and soul, and makes possible an abundant life in the here-and-now that has its proof in the there-and-then. The cynical secular rebuttal to Pro. 13:12 is, “Hope deferred is no hope at all.” And that is indeed no hope at all. Quality of life is a matter of choice, and the life of abundance that Jesus offers is received in and acted upon by faith.
If you are in the midst of suffering, Joshua has an exhortation for you: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” (Jos. 24:15) And, somewhat more tenderly, the Apostle Paul has a prayer for you: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” (1 Thess. 5:16-18, 23-24) If you are suffering in any way, fervently pray you will be healed. Nevertheless, “Offer it up.”
Q. What is my best alternative to pain and suffering?
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