When your body is injured in some way or something is wrong with it, your nerves (cells that help your body send and receive information) send millions of messages to your brain about what's going on. Your brain then makes you feel pain. So if you put your hand on a hot stove, your nerves calls your brain, and your brain quickly sends the message that your hand is hurting.
People don't come with a warning light, like the lights on a car dashboard that let you know when your car needs gas. We need the sensation of pain to let us know when there is something wrong with our bodies.
There are different types of pain, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual pain. Maybe you or someone you know, is living with some type of pain. No pain is alike.
The Bible is full of stories about pain. The Bible has so many stories in it. It is a story about how the world was created, what has gone wrong in it, and how God is going to fix it. The Bible is about the Creation, the Fall, the Redemption, and the Restoration.
The Bible tells us that pain and suffering entered into God's creation through the rebellion of God's creatures, first through angels and then humans. We lost our innocence through the original sin, in the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve.
There is an entire book in the Bible, where Jeremiah records his prayers to the Lord, Lamentations. The book of Psalms is a collection of songs and poems used for worship and lament. Habakkuk lived in the time that Jeremiah lamented. Habakkuk looked around Judah and cried out to God about the injustice and evil he saw everywhere.
One of the most deepest and most saddest treatment of suffering in the Bible is the story of Job. Job really never learned the true meaning of his suffering, even after God restored him.
The most saddest story of them all was about Jesus Christ. Jesus was God in human form. He entered into suffering because of us. He was born, lived, died, and rose again from the dead to defeat evil and reconcile us to God. When Jesus hung on the cross, He suffered one of the worst deaths imaginable. His death took on all the sins of mankind. He was INNOCENT, but He died for our transgressions.
But, why so much pain? When we are in the season of pain and suffering, God allows them in our lives. He allows the short term pain and suffering, because He knows we will receive long term blessings.
God tells us that there is a purpose in all pain. "Consider it all joy, my brethen, when you encounter various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." (James 1:2-3) According to James, when we endure painful trails, we can take joy knowing that God is at work in us to produce endurance and Christ-like character. This applies to mental, emotional, and spiritual pain, as well as physical pain.
Suffering changes us for the better. It draws us closer to God. Pain also provide us the opportunity to experience the grace of God. When the Apostle Paul was suffering, God told Paul, "...my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Pain and suffering is used to help us grow. Growth often means pain. Suffering is often how God shows Himself to us. Suffering is part of the call to serve Jesus. He knows that there is nothing that will increase our passion to pursue Him more than pain. When we seek Him, we will find joy in Him.
No, pain and suffering doesn't feel good at all. Pain alerts us that something is wrong in our body. Also it causes us to reflect on the consequences of sin. Jesus endured excruciating emotional and physical pain for us. He suffered this pain, willingly, just to redeem us and to glorify His Father.
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18)
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