Why Does God Allow Pain?
“God whispers to us in our pleasures… but shouts in our pains”
Have you ever heard this quote? We all probably question why God allows pain. Let’s check out the mystery of pain. How does God use it to get our attention and refine us?
Who said it?
The Christian philosopher C. S. Lewis said this in his book The Problem of Pain.
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. 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.”
In the book, Lewis dealt with how a good, all-powerful, loving God allows His creation to suffer pain. What is the point of pain? Why does God allow hardship to exist in the world?
Lewis concluded that believers are made perfect through suffering.
- “For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17 NASB)
What did C. S. Lewis mean?
He pointed out that we sometimes almost forget God when all is well in our world. We hear His whispers, but they are easy to ignore. That is to say, we probably acknowledge God’s existence and may even be thankful for His blessings. However, are we surrendering ourselves to Him as we ought? We might not confront our sins and repent. We might not even think of our sins as being wrong. As Lewis points out:
“The human spirit will not even begin to try to surrender self-will as long as all seems to be well with it. Now error and sin both have this property, that the deeper they are the less their victim suspects their existence; they are masked evil.”
“Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. We ‘have all we want’ is a terrible saying when ‘all’ does not include God… While what we call ‘our own life’ remains agreeable, we will not surrender it to Him.”
C. S. Lewis said that God doesn’t get our attention with pleasure. We start paying attention to Him when we’re going through pain. That’s when we surrender to Him.
“Pain is unmasked, unmistakable evil; every man knows that something is wrong when he is being hurt… And pain is not only immediately recognisable evil, but evil impossible to ignore.”
How does weakness make us strong?
This is what the Apostle Paul shared about his own journey:
“Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, NASB)
When we experience pain and its accompanying frustration, we realize we need God. We realize we’re not strong enough on our own. We need God’s strength. We need His grace and love. Pain keeps us humble. It keeps us reliant on God.
“We are most keenly aware of God’s character in our suffering. It is when our self-sufficiency is peeled away that we see how weak we really are.”[i]
Jon Bloom, of Desiring God, said, “Weakness may be your greatest strength.”[ii] He points out that we often consider our weaknesses as liabilities. Instead, we should consider the “paradoxical power of weakness.”
Paul spoke of his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7), which he identified as “a messenger of Satan to harass me.” It’s important to note here that God didn’t send the thorn. Satan did. But God allowed it. He didn’t take it away, even when Paul begged Him to. He told Paul, “Power is perfected in weakness.”
Why should we rejoice in trials?
- “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4, NASB)
- “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7, BSB)
Pain is part of the refining process. Trials test our faith. If we fall apart, it’s apparent that we’re trusting ourselves and not God. Trials build endurance. Our faith matures when we pass through times of struggle. We might not understand what’s happening, but we learn to trust God through the process.
What if we suffer for doing what is right?
Christians around the planet are persecuted simply for believing in Jesus. Even in our “free” society, we are sometimes forced to choose between God’s principles and the principles of ungodly people. This might involve suffering. What should we do in this case?
Paul and Barnabas set a great example in Acts 16. They cast a demon out of a slave girl, and she lost the (demonic) ability to tell the future. Her owners could no longer make money from her. They stirred up a mob, and the magistrate ordered that Paul and Barnabas be stripped and beaten with rods. Then they were thrown into prison, with their feet in stocks. How did Paul and Barnabas respond? In this situation, most of us might be saying, “Why, God?”
But Paul and Barnabas were having a praise-fest in prison. They were praying and singing hymns, and the other prisoners were listening. Then, suddenly, a violent earthquake struck. The prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains fell off. Paul and Barnabas shared the gospel with their jailor, and he and all his family were saved and baptized.
The story of Paul and Barnabas had a happy ending – that time. But plenty of New Testament saints (and plenty of saints since then) have suffered for standing up for their faith, and the prison doors did NOT open. If we are persecuted for doing what’s right, we have this word:
“But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.’ But in your hearts, sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:14-17)
How should we, as believers, respond to pain?
- We should respond with worship.
“Worship?” you might ask. “How can I worship God in a time like this?” Worship might not be our first instinct. But it’s how Job responded to his unimaginable, incredibly painful, and incomprehensible trials.
“Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.’”
You don’t have to understand what’s going on to worship. Job worshiped even in his mourning. Paul and Silas worshiped in prison, with their backs bleeding from a beating. Worship acknowledges that when our world is seemingly crashing down around us, God is still on His throne. He’s still in control. We can trust Him. After all, Jesus was the suffering servant.
- We should ask God to teach us. What does God want me to learn through this experience? Is there something in my life He wants me to yield to Him? Do I have unconfessed sin? If the answer is “yes,” then repent, confess, and move on. Maybe the answer is “no.” Suffering is not necessarily a punishment. It is a refining process. It makes us less reliant on ourselves and more on Him. We learn more about God’s character. When we suffer, we learn how to minister to others who suffer.
- We must recognize the goodness of God. In a way, this goes back to worship. God isn’t out to get us. He loves us more than we can ever comprehend. He is drawing us to Himself. He allows us to pass through trials to purify us.
- We must not give up! “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Sickness, suffering, aging, and death are all part of the human experience. It’s part of the curse. Our inner self – our soul and spirit – are more critical. They are eternal. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
“…let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a, BSB)
[i] Daniel Ritchie, “God Shouts to Us in our Pain,” Desiring God, January 16, 2017. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-shouts-to-us-in-our-pain
[ii] Jon Bloom, “Weakness May Be Your Greatest Strength,” Desiring God, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/weakness-may-be-your-greatest-strength
