Many of us experience pain in our lives; at different times and in different ways. But what do we do with the pain that we are experiencing? Where do we go to soothe ourselves? Where do we go to find relief?
Sometimes we harm others and feel bad
Let’s say someone committed murder, or stole something; or someone injured someone else, or harmed them in some way. And now they were feeling pain for what they did. That’s painful.
Conscience
When we do things that we shouldn’t do the mind gets affected in a bad way.
Sometimes we feel bad for what we have done
The Jews at the time of Jesus wanted to see Him dead. It was the Jews – led by their religious leaders – who took Jesus to the Romans authorities and forced them to crucify Jesus. The Jews did what was in their hearts to do.
Luke 23:1-2: says: “Then the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate. And they began to accuse Him…”
And Peter tells us in Acts 2:22: “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. But God knew what would happen, and…With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.”
And then Peter told the Jews: “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles,
“Brothers, what should we do?”
Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
Sometimes we feel pain because of what we didn’t do
Sometimes we feel pain because we didn’t do what we know in our hearts what we should have done.
This is what God tells us to do: “Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.” – Isaiah 1:17
In Proverbs 3:19 God says: “Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.”
So you see? It is a sin to shut up and not speak up for the oppressed; for those who are being tormented; for those who are having their rights taken away.
“Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
“Open your mouth for the mute, For the rights of all the unfortunate.”
And what happens if we don’t? What happens if we don’t speak up for those who are being persecuted or oppressed; what happens when we don’t speak up and talk about those who are in trouble? What happens when we shut up instead of opening our mouths and talking to protect those whose rights are being taken away?
We feel bad. And why do we feel bad? Because we haven’t what in our hearts we know we should have done. And feeling bad is like feeling pain.
Not helping others causes people to cry our for salvation
When we feel bad about not doing what we should have done, when we haven’t spoken up and defending the rights of those being abused; when we haven’t protected those who are having their rights taken away – we feel bad – our conscience makes us feel uneasy. We don’t feel right. We are agitated and edgy. We feel the pain of not doing what it is that we should have done. Someone God has created us so that we feel bad if we don’t do what we should have done.
In 1 Corinthians 9:16 Paul says: “Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!”
Pain because of what was done to us
And sometimes, and the one we really struggle with, is the pain we feel because of what someone else has done to us.
Pain means punishment. If our leg is broken we feel pain; the pain is the punishment our body receives for having a broken leg. If we accidentally pour hot water on our hands we feel pain; the pain is the punishment we feel for having hot water pour onto us. We are punished with pain when something is done against us and injures us.
We can be injured in our spirits, in our minds, and our emotions. We can feel pain psychologically.
God says: “he human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?”
That’s why God tells fathers: “Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.” – Colosisans 3:21.
If fathers yell at their kids, if fathers treat their children harshly, or are rude to them, tease them, are sarcastic towards them, abandon or neglect them – it’s all the same. Fathers are inflicted pain upon their children. They are injuring them. And the pain is the punishment or result of the injury. We feel the pain; it is inside of us.
Take your pain to Jesus
Some people are under a lot of pain in their minds. The mind is a very tender thing; it can be damaged and molded and shaped into ways that are not healthy.
There is only one person you can take your pain to who can heal you from the inside – and that is Jesus.
“He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.” – Psalm 147:3
This is not talking only about our physical bodies; it is talking about the unseen pain that we feel in our hearts and our minds and our emotions. God is in there fixing us up; God is in there healing our broken hearts. We can’t see Him doing it but He is.
Jesus is the God of the broken hearted; Jesus is the Lord of those who are oppressed. Jesus is the God of those who are in need of a Saviour.