The Problem Of Pain

You will find the text in the epistle tot he Hebrews. Hebrews 12:6, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

In connection with this passage, I would like to read some verses in the context. “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews12:7–10). “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6).

Pain, suffering, and sorrow play a very great part in every human life, and especially in the lives of those who are Christians endeavoring to follow their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I suppose that, like myself, every other believer at some time has been greatly perplexed concerning God’s providential dealings. We have wondered why these things should be. Why this darkness, why this depression, why this misunderstanding and why this trial, now that we are trying to live right and to do the will of God?

Why?

“Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me.” That was Job’s request as he was passing through his great sorrow. Many another believer has asked practically the same question, though perhaps not in the same words. May I say in passing that I do not think it is wrong to ask an interpretation of God’s dealings with us. It is not an indication that we are rebellious when we ask, “My God, why?” You remember that Jesus himself asked that question.

In the beginning of Christian life, we ask, “how?” Like Nicodemus, “How can a man be born again when he is old?” But as we pass on down the road of Christian experience, it is not “how” but “why, Lord?”

Is Sickness Always A Judgment?

There is a tendency to regard affliction, sickness, and pain as retribution for wrong doing. Sometimes we look upon those who are passing through trouble and we wonder why this judgment has come to them. The thought in the back of our minds is that there must be something wrong. You remember Job’s “comforters,” as they were called. I think a better designation of them would be “Job’s tormentors.” The only good thing I can see about those friends is that, for the first three days, they “sat still and said nothing.” In their self-complacence, you remember, they looked upon Job as a hypocrite. They thought he was suffering for some sin he had not confessed—and they were sincere in it, too.

You get the same thought from the incident in the life of Jesus. The Pharisee reported a great calamity that had befallen certain Galileans. Jesus immediately said, “Suppose ye that these Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with the blood of their sacrifice were sinners above all Galileans?” And then He added, significantly, “I tell you, nay.” Evidently those people were thinking that some awful judgment had come upon these people for fearful wrong doing.

In the ninth chapter of John’s Gospel, we have the story of a man who had been born blind and whose eyes were opened by the Lord. The disciples asked Jesus this question, “Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” Do you see, they had no other solution to that problem other than that this man, through his own sin or through the sin of his parents, had brought this affliction upon himself. Jesus answered and said, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents.” He did not want them to understand, of course, that the man had never committed any sin, nor that his parents were perfect, but that this affliction was not the result of sin—his own or his parents!

Three Sources Of Sickness

As I understand it, sickness may come to us from three sources. First of all, I believe a great deal of our affliction and suffering comes because we violate Nature’s laws. I am not going to amplify this, other than to give you a crude illustration. If I put my hand in the fire, I am going to have a burned hand. No amount of faith will save me from suffering, if I violate that natural law. I may have a great physical body. It may be wonderfully strong, but if I misuse it, if I abuse it, if I deny it the rest it should have, I need not wonder if my body suffers the next day, and perhaps for many days. I have to take care of this body of mine, properly clothe it, feed it and rest it, at least in keeping with common sense.

Then there is what we might term the violation of spiritual laws. Especially to Israel, God made the promise that if they would obey Him, he would put none of the diseases upon them that came upon the Egyptians, and at a later date, He told them that if they did not obey Him, He would put upon them burning fevers, consumption, etc., as He did upon their enemies. I believe there are a lot of folks physically sick who would soon be well if they would get right spiritually. I have known that to happen many times. I have gone to pray with people seemingly nigh unto death. They were unsaved, but were led to trust Christ as their Savior, and almost immediately they were well. It was reported as a case of divine healing, and it was divine healing. God who made the body is the only one who can put it right. Get right with God and “thine health,” says Isaiah, “shall spring forth speedily.” I am convinced of that. A saved soul and a clean mind and conscience contribute largely to the health of the body.

But there is another source. As I study my Bible, I see that affliction or sickness may come as a direct attack from the devil. Do you believe that? I believe Satan has been permitted more than once to put affliction and disease on God’s children. If you doubt that, all you have to do is to read the story of Job. Folks who are outside of the church of Christ might be tempted to think that the story of Job is an allegory, but those who have any Christian experience will know that the record is true to fact. That is why it has been such a help to all of us.

A Good Man Afflicted

But now what kind of a man was Job? He “was perfect and upright.” He “feared God and eschewed evil.” But the devil said, “Give me a chance to take away his goods. Give me a chance to afflict his body.” Of course it was mysterious, but God allowed the hedge to be taken down and the devil made the attack. It was Satan who covered him with boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet.

In the New Testament, we see a woman bowed almost double. She was “a daughter of Abraham,” a child of faith, and when the Lord saw her, He said, “Woman, be loosed from thine infirmities.” And immediately, she was made straight and He asked the people this question, “Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hathbowed down these eighteen years, be loosed from her infirmities?”

There is a great deal of mystery about it all, I admit. Why should a man like Job suffer? The only answer I can give is that it was for the glory of God, like the sickness and death of Lazarus. I could mention many other mysteries if I had time. I could tell you of homes into which I have gone where there were dear saints who have been on their beds for many years—the dearest, sweetest saints I have ever known. And yet there they are, His own dear ones, suffering—yet trusting—and enjoying sweet fellowship with their Lord.

Welcoming Pain

A while ago, I was reading the life of Dr. Payson. What a man of God he was! He was a terrible sufferer. For many years he never knew a day free from pain. “Every night death comes and stands beside my bed in the form of a terrible convulsion,” said this dear brother. “Every one is more severe than the other, threatening to separate my soul from my body, and always leaving me with the certainty that I shall have to endure it all tomorrow night.” But he adds, “While my body is thus tortured, my soul is perfectly happy, more happy than I can explain.”

Think of that testimony! “My joy in God,” he declared, “so abounds as to make my suffering not only bearable but welcome.” I cannot understand it, but this saint of God, through great suffering, enjoyed a fellowship of which most of us know nothing.

On one occasion, Dr. Payson was visiting one of his parishioners who was ill. “Brother,” said the minister, “I have found out why God puts some of us on our backs. Do you know why?”

“No,” said the man, “I don’t know.”

“Why,” and Dr. Payson, “it is that we might look straight up into His face.”

We spend most of our time looking around for money and pleasure, and every now and again God afflicts us that we may look straight up into heaven.

Why Christians Are Chastened

The Scripture that I have selected as a text is applicable only to God’s children. You cannot take these passages about chastening and apply them to everybody. The application is directly to those who trust Jesus Christ. There are two fathers here contrasted, our earthly father who chastened us for his pleasure, and our Heavenly Father who chastens us for our profit that we may be made a partaker of His holiness.

Just as soon as one becomes a Christian, he enters the school of Christ to be educated. All the providential dealings of God with us are educational. He corrects, He instructs, He reproves, He rebukes, He disciplines, but that is all educational. Thank God, there is a high and holy purpose back of it all. You are not a little bit of driftwood on a swollen stream. You are not a little bit of dust swirling down the public highway. You are in a great divine plan and in the great divine school and God is chastening you for your profit.

The thought came to me this week that somewhere, other than here, there are ministries where these faculties and this character that God is developing and training and correcting, will have higher and holier and loftier manifestations. I like to think of that. Referring to Dr. Blanchard’s death, a brother said to me the other day, “It seems too bad that just when one is so rich in wisdom and experience that it should all be ended.”

“Do you think it is all ended, brother?” I asked.

Oh, no; it is not ended—it is just begun. Blessed be God. Go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow morning to ministries, privileges, opportunities unknown! “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face.” Won’t it be great, friends, over there? That suggests why, does it not, that God is putting us through the crucible?

Peter Learns The Value Of Suffering

“Think it not strange,” said Peter, “concerning the fiery trial.” I do not think he would have said that when he was a young man, for it is a statement born of experience.

I have taken two scenes from Peter’s life. In the sixteenth of Matthew, when Peter made his wonderful confession about Jesus being the Son of God, we read that from that time, Jesus began to show them how He must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the chief priests and be killed. And then it says, Peter rebuked Him and said, “Not so, my Lord. Thou shalt never suffer like that.” You see, Peter then could not understand how a good man should suffer. But at the end of his earthly life, he thought it strange that any Christian should escape sufferings.

After the day of Pentecost, you see him standing before the very council before which Jesus stood—perhaps in the very same place. John was with him and they were forbidden to speak any more in the name of Jesus. Finally, they commanded that their backs be made bare and a great soldier scourged them. Yet they left the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Savior. How do your afflictions and sorrows affect you? Are you “exercised thereby”? Everything depends on the attitude you take. If you are full of grumbling and murmuring the devil gets the victory in your trial. There are two great companies watching you. Heaven is looking on and hell is watching. Don’t you think there would have been a jubilee in hell if old Job had said, “God is unkind: God has no right to treat me like this”? But when Job saw everything gone, said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Then there was a jubilee in heaven.

Are you “exercised thereby”? Do you look up and ask questions? Do you say, “My God, why am I having this experience?” And do you seek a fuller knowledge of His will? Do you lay yourself in absolute abandonment before the cross and say, “Take my life, and if it be through suffering, let it be used for Thy glory”?

Comfort For Christians

You will remember two or three things that we have mentioned. First of all, you are in the hands of a loving Father. He superintends the trial. He sometimes uses men and sometimes circumstances, but they are never the first cause in the Christian’s experience. “Whom the Lord loveth HE chastenth. HE scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” He may use the circumstances, He may use enemies, but bless God, behind it all there is a divine plan and purpose. That is why, over and over again in the Bible, we are assured of the loving kindness of God. Some folks love you, but they can’t be kind. They are not made that way. They lack graciousness. They would do anything for you, but they are severe. But we are assured over and over in the Bible that God not only loves us, but God is kind. He is tender. “The mountains may depart,” saith Jehovah, “but my loving, lovingkindness will not depart from you.” “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.”

It helps me to remember that Jesus lived my life. I am thinking of the fact that Jesus, though God’s well-beloved Son, came down the road of suffering. God wasn’t punishing Him, was He? God sent Him into the world and He suffered all alone. Do you think He did not suffer for thirty years in Nazareth? Do you think that one so holy could live in a dirty, gossiping village like Nazareth and not suffer? “For it became him, for whom all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” On, yes, He knows the feeling of my heart. Oh, brother, sister, you may think that nobody understands you, but there is one who understands. Blessed be His name forever!

What Shall The Harvest Be?

Affliction is a real part of Christian experience. But the fruit it bears depends upon your attitude. “It yields”—I like that word—“it yields to those who are exercised thereby, some thirty, some sixty some an hundred fold.”

You know the story of George Matheson and how he lost his sight just as he was finishing his university course. The young woman to whom he was betrothed gave him up because of this affliction. But Matheson, after a little struggle, accepted it as coming from the hand of God. He thought of her love that had meant so much to him, now gone out of his life forever, but he knew of another love that never fails, and he wrote:

“O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depts its flow
May richer, fuller be.

“O Cross that liftith up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s gory dead.
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.”

Don’t make any mistake, beloved friends. If God takes something from you, He will fill the void. If you lose out here you will gain over there and life shall “richer, fuller be.” Can you estimate how many thousands of people have been saved and helped and comforted through George Matheson’s hymn?

I think of Dr. Moon of Brighton. Like Matheson, blindness came upon him. With his keen intellect and his ambition and the great vision he had for ministry in the future, it came as an awful blow. But what did he do? He first submitted to God. He told his heavenly Father that he would receive it from His hand and accepted it as a talent. He said in his prayer, “O Father, I thank Thee for this talent of blindness. May I so invest it that at the coming of Jesus Christ, He will receive His own with usury.” And then what did he do? He sent right to work and invented what is known as the “Moon System of Raised Letters for the Blind.”

I think I would be safe in saying that a million people have been able to get the message of God’s Word through their fingers because Moon of Brighton accepted that affliction as a gift from God. I saw, just the other day, that portions of the Bible have been printed in upwards of 500 different languages and dialects. It makes all the difference in the world whether we just give up and mope as though every one were against us, or whether we look up and say,

“O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee.”

“Afterward—it yieldth.” I do not know whether it is here that you will get the increase, or not. I can imagine that in heaven a man like Dr. Moon will have hundreds of people coming from all parts of the world saying, “Brother, it was through you that I was led to Christ.”

“Afterward it yieldeth the fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby.”