I recently finished listening to the book “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made,” by Dr. Paul Brand and Phillip Yancy, and the following statement, “pain is the hallmark of mortality,” made me think about the critical importance of pain in my life. We live in a fallen world where sin is constantly wreaking havoc. Physical pain plays a vital part in keeping us alive. It tells our body and our mind that something is wrong and must be fixed. Yet, we take pain for granted; indeed, we often despise it. Many times we seek to deaden it instead of discovering the cause so we can fix it. Dr. Brand, who worked with leprosy patients for many years, made several brilliant observations about pain:
“Pain is the hallmark of mortality. We plunge into the world through a woman’s stretched and torn tissues, our first response a cry of fear or grief or both. Years later we exit the world, often in one last paroxysm of pain. Between those two events we live out our days, with pain always lurking at the door. The word itself derives from poena, the Latin word for punishment, a dark hint that the demons working the saw are more than imaginary. Leprosy patients suffer because they feel no pain. They long for the demons who would alert them to impending danger. Leprosy silences nerve cells, and as a result its victims unwittingly destroy themselves, bit by bit, because they cannot feel pain.”
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, by Dr. Paul Brand and Phillip Yancy
I’ve never considered physical pain a GIFT that keeps me from destroying my body. I often complain about it, but anyone with leprosy would consider it the greatest gift! Dr. Brand explains:
“When the body’s pain-monitoring system breaks down, the inability to sense pain can cause permanent damage. Perhaps you step on a loose stone or curb. As your ankle begins to twist, the lateral ligaments of the ankle endure a terrific strain. Detecting the strain, nerve cells order the body to take all weight off the damaged leg, and its thigh and calf muscles will become momentarily flaccid. If your other, undamaged leg has lifted off the ground to take a step, you will now have no support and will lurch to the ground. Your body opts for falling rather than forcing the ankle to take on weight in its twisted position. You get up feeling a fool and hoping no one was watching, but in reality you have just achieved a beautifully coordinated maneuver that saved you from a badly sprained ankle or worse.
I cannot erase from my mind the memory of watching a leprosy patient sprain his ankle without falling. He stepped on a loose stone, turned his ankle completely over so that the sole of his foot pointed inward, and walked on without a limp. Lacking the protection of pain, he did not even glance at the foot he had just irreparably damaged by rupturing the left lateral ligament! Despite his therapist’s warnings, in subsequent days he kept turning his ankle again and again until eventually, due to more complications, he had to have that leg amputated.
Pain, so often viewed as an enemy, is actually the sensation most dedicated to keeping us healthy. If I had the power to choose one gift for my leprosy patients, I would choose the gift of pain.
There are so many spiritual lessons from the gift of pain! Physical pain is the unpleasant sensory experience that relays to the brain that something is damaged. Our body, a machine of unparalleled marvel, utilizes pain to prevent further injury.
What of spiritual pain?
In our series on self-care, we discussed the importance of soul-care. George MacDonald said “You don’t HAVE a soul; You ARE a Soul. You HAVE a body.” We learned that “soul-care” is critical for good health. Our soul, which we learned in our study on human design, keeps our body alive. It also seems that our soul has the ability to function in a way to prevent the worst kind of injury—eternal injury and death. Jesus said:
“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own SOUL? Or what will a man give in exchange for his SOUL?”
Matthew 16:26
Just as God planted in our body the knowledge of the need to breathe, He gave our soul the knowledge of our need for a relationship with Him. Our soul knows it was made by God and completely dependent upon Him for life!
“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”
Psalms 139:13-14
When we don’t have a relationship with God (through salvation) our soul is choked with painful anxiety. We know something is missing. When we deaden the pain with distraction, drugs, alcohol, entertainment, or by pursuing passions like work, money, or success—our soul’s anxiety is temporarily deadened. It is a temporary escape—but it will never heal us.
The root of the pain is caused by our need for a relationship with God.
Worse than a leper walking on an injured leg until it has to be amputated, to ignore the pain of our soul destroys the very person God made us to be. Before we’re born again, we ignore our anxiety and it results in eternal death in hell. After we’re born again, we ignore our soul-pain at another great cost—the irreplaceable cost of living for our glorious purpose.
Anxiety is a gift—it tells us—something is not right between us and God.
We should embrace the gift and allow it to become passionate about identifying the problem separating us from the presence of our Prince of Peace. There is no greater gift than a healthy, robust relationship with God, who has given us eternal, abundant life.
