Pain can be our worst foe or greatest friend. “What,” you ask incredulously? Yes. If this were not so, leprosy would be a blessing rather than a curse, because it renders its victims unable to feel pain. Feeling pain is necessary in helping us to moderate our misguided behavior.
When I put my hand on a hot rock, it’s not because the devil made me do it,—it’s because I was careless. Even though God loves me, the laws of sowing and reaping are still in effect, and those laws help me to determine where not to put my hands in the future.
Proverbs 3:11-12 tells us that we’re not to despise the Lord’s chastening, neither to be weary of His correction; for whom He loves He corrects—even as a Father, the son in whom He delights! Correction from God brings a harvest of peaceable fruit, and any pain endured to get to that crop is long forgotten.
The Apostle Paul notes in II Cor. 12:7-10 that the Lord allowed for him to have affliction, in order that he would not get a swelled head, due to the level of divine revelation afforded him. God’s strength is made perfect through our weakness—what makes us think we can improve upon that plan?
Yes, Father does know best, and any pain we have is greatly intensified when we fail to realize that there is a sovereign God who isn’t surprised by it--who cares more about us than we do for ourselves. The psalmist says in Psalm 119:71 that it was “good for (the author) to have been afflicted that he might learn (God’s) statutes. Furthermore, he adds (in verse 78 ) that he knows God is righteous and that in faithfulness He has afflicted him.
David begins Psalm 6 by pleading for help, goes on to describe his myriad of problems, and ends the text praising God for His deliverance, not only from his physical ailments, but from the weightier issue of merciless enemies.
I don’t relish pain, but when I have to endure it, I’m grateful for the peace that I know is just around the corner.
b(Les)sings
b(Les)sings
Psalm 6
To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. On an eight-stringed harp.[a] A Psalm of David.
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly troubled;
But You, O LORD—how long?
4 Return, O LORD, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
5 For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning;
All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with my tears.
7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication;
The LORD will receive my prayer.
10 Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly--NKJV
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly troubled;
But You, O LORD—how long?
4 Return, O LORD, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
5 For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning;
All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with my tears.
7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication;
The LORD will receive my prayer.
10 Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly--NKJV
Footnotes:
- Psalm 6:1 Hebrew sheminith
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