There is a Purpose for Your Pain
Dec 2023
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Life is full of difficult circumstances. That sentence alone will ring true with everyone who is reading this article now. I would even say that some of you have thought of a specific event in your life, whether past or present as you read that sentence.
There are things that we all have faced and are going to face that seem too difficult to bear—losing a loved one to a deadly disease, having a spouse hurt you physically or emotionally, walking through a “shadow of death” experience, suffering through a mental illness—you name it, and someone has gone through it.
Even though that list is not exhaustive, there is a common thread that runs through all of them: pain. When losing a loved one, you feel the grief and pain of that loss. When a spouse damages you physically or emotionally, it does not just go away overnight. When you walk through that valley or suffer from depression or anxiety, it takes up your whole world and is a miserable, painful experience. Pain is something that everyone, saved and unsaved, will go through in their lifetime. However, if you find yourself going through a season of pain; if you find yourself struggling to see the light of day and not knowing up from down; if you find yourself struggling to hold on, then there is good news for you—there is purpose in the pain that you are feeling.
In the Old Testament, Job was a man who had everything. In fact, Job 1:3 makes the statement, “this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.” He had family, he had property, he had herds of animals, and he was seen as one of the greatest and wealthiest men in the east. These things, though, were not his greatest achievements. His greatest achievement would be found in Job 1:1: “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” The most important thing to know about Job was the fact that he was a follower of God. He hated evil and held his faith in God. Job is even seen giving sacrifices on behalf of his family.
There came a day, though, that Satan would present himself to God, and God would bring up Job. This conversation in heaven, which Job was not privileged to, would be where Job’s pain would begin. First, Job would lose his property and his children. One servant right after the other would continually bring bad news. One blow right after the other. Job responds to this pain with worship. Job 1:22 says, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” Instead of blaming God, he still worshipped through the pain.
This, though, was not the end of Job’s sorrows. Satan then has permission to attack Job’s health. His “friends” come over and don’t speak to him for seven days and seven nights. When they finally spoke, it was better when they had just kept their mouths shut. They blamed Job and his sin for everything that had gone wrong. In fact, Zophar would say “Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.” This friend tells Job, “You deserve worse than what you are getting.” In the middle of Job’s pain and suffering from losing everything, these friends tell him he deserves worse than this. However, at the end of it all, Job 42:10 says, “The LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” God not only restored what Job lost, but He also gave him more than he had.
This story, though, does not answer the question, “What is the purpose of my pain that I am going through?” Job suffered greatly, and the pain he felt must have been tremendous. There were moments of not understanding what was happening or why. God, though, came to Job in a whirlwind to comfort him in the time of his need. Before you can understand the purpose for your pain, you must understand that God is there to comfort you in it.
II Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” Everyone experiences different types of pain. You can experience physical pain when you are sick. You can also experience emotional or mental pain from depression or anxiety. No matter what pain you are experiencing, it is good to know and understand that God is the God of all comfort. There is no pain that we experience that God cannot comfort us in. Not only that, but this verse also says that He will comfort us in all of our tribulations. So it does not even matter what trial is causing the pain. God will still comfort us through every trial that we face as well.
So what is the purpose of your pain? The phrase in these verses say that says, “That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.”
The reason you are going through the pain and heartache is so that you can come alongside others who are experiencing the same thing. Job lost everything and everyone around him. His friends did not comfort him, and his wife gave up on him. This is not what we are supposed to do to those who are around us.
First, you need to know that God is here to comfort you. When you feel like letting go, He is there to hold on to. When you feel like giving in, He is there to support you. When you feel like throwing in the towel, He is there to give you strength to make it through.
Second, you need to know that the purpose of the pain you are going through is so that what God does in you, He can do through you. The comfort you received from Him—go and give it to others. Be the shoulder to cry on. Be the encouraging word at the right time. Be the person that is present while everyone else walks away. Walk through trials with those who are around you. That is the purpose for your pain.
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