PROFIT IN PAIN

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” ~ Psalm 119:71

REFERENCE:

Psalm 119:67-72

Pain is a constant companion in life. It is any suffering, discomfort, or distress; it can be physical or emotional. Nobody likes to go through pain; in fact, we pray not to, but pain has been the womb through which many great things were birthed. We were all born out of pain – ask the mothers. Pain will only be absent in heaven, so while here, we must find profit in pain.

Pain can come in different forms: losing something or someone precious, unfavorable experience, or dashed expectations. Also, pain is feeling dissatisfied with a prevailing state; it is what you feel when you are tired of a particular experience in your life. As undesirable as pain is, God wants you to approach it with positivity and faith. You should see pain as a God-given ability to know something is wrong, is missing, or isn’t how it should be. That in itself is a blessing. This will make pain become a motivator and an inspiration to strive for better things.

David said in our text, “The pain of my affliction drove me to my bible, and I better understood the Word.” You can turn your pain into profit. God’s primary objective for permitting pain is to birth a new experience. Hannah’s pain from mockery over childlessness drove her to pray and birth Samuel, Jephthah’s pain from family rejection turned him into a warrior that delivered his nation, and Jesus’ pain gave us our salvation. Imagine how many hit songs have been inspired by pain or poems and books inspired by the pain of heartbreak, bereavement, war, betrayal, etc. Something useful and meaningful can come from your painful experience if you will take it to God, get into the word of God, and ask Him what He wants you to learn from it.

I like this poem by Robert Browning Hamilton: “I walked a mile with pleasure, she chatted all the way, but she left me none the wiser, for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow (pain), and she did not say a word; but, oh, the things I learned from her when sorrow walked with me.” If you listen well in your pain, God may be giving you a new direction; He may be showing you someone better than the last date, He may be stirring you to write a book, to start a blog or a support group for people going through what you went through. Don’t let your head down because of your pain, let pain lead you to seek ways to get respite, to seek alternatives, or to ask questions. Don’t go through life letting pain dictate how you live or behave. Yes, pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice. Blind Bartimaeus chose, in his pain, to vigorously cry for help until he got his sight back. So, let God in and listen now, you will find profit in your pain.

PHOTO QUOTE

ADDITIONAL TEXTS: 

I Samuel 1:1-7 & Psalm 61:1-2

CONFESSION:

I refuse to remain in my place of pain (of bereavement, rejection, loss, etc.). I cast out the spirit of regret and depression. I receive emotional and physical healing from God. God is still God despite my painful experience; I will encounter God in my pain and discover purpose through it. Pain will not have the final say in my life; a better version of me will emerge, and out of that which came to eat me, God will give me something to eat. I arise from the place of pain to the place of all-around profit, in Jesus’ name.