Why Is "Pain The Second Best Thing To God"?

On A Yoga Pose at "Dolphin Beach" facing Bahrain

While lobbying into my heart for some hurtful things that I had encountered recently, I came across just a while ago an FB status of my former co-SFC (now also a CFC like me). I felt I was knocked-out by the very words in it. I felt ashamed of how I somehow treated my situation into like questioning God. But at the very end of it, I just felt His awesome presence in me through this encouraging words. I just feel the need to share it with you guys especially those who are experiencing difficult situation like me. This somehow will assure us of the omnipotent presence of God.

Indeed, God never fails to deliver when you mostly need Him. There might be delays but surely He will run for a rescue into your life. And it did to me. Here is a powerful message God sent to me from a man of God -Tullian Tchividjian - a senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

"Being thankful for pain is such a hard concept to grasp because many of us are convinced that the pursuit of happiness and comfort is our “inalienable right.” So when our comforts, conveniences, and cushions are threatened, we cry “foul.” And this has deeply affected our understanding of the things that we should be thankful for.

The greatest people in history have been just as thankful for their pains as they have been for their pleasures. They’ve given gratitude for their desperations as much as their deliverances; their grief as much as their glory.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Health is a gift from God, but sickness is a gift greater still.” Throughout his time in this world, Spurgeon suffered with various physical ailments that eventually took his life prematurely. He longed to be well but he recognized the supreme value of being sick and he thanked God for it because it was his pain that caused him to desperately draw near to God.

To be thankful for our comforts only is to make an idol of this life. “God-sent afflictions”, says Maurice Roberts, “have a health-giving effect upon the soul” because they are the medicine used to purge the soul of self-centeredness and this world’s vanities. Pain, in other words, sharpens us, matures us, and gives us clear “eye-sight.” Pain transforms us like nothing else can. It turns us into “solid” people.

It’s been said that pain is the second best thing because it leads us to the Best Thing (God). For, it is only when we come to the end of ourselves that we come to the beginning of God. And it is only when we come to the beginning of God that we come to the beginning of life.

The paradox of Christianity is that if you want to find your life, you must lose it (Matthew 10:39). In the world’s economy, life precedes death. In God’s economy, death precedes life -- the cross always precedes the crown. The good news, however -- the thing that should cause us to be supremely thankful -- is that when we lose our worldly comforts, we gain heavenly ones.

~Tullian Tchividjian