Living with Severe, Chronic Pain: Part Three

Chapter Nine:  Living as a person of faith who has chronic illness or pain

I came across an article written many years ago by a gentleman named Cecil Maranville. I would like to share some portions of his article with you, and hope that it gives you some inspiration, as it does me:

"People through the ages have sought relief from illness and pain through spiritual faith.  Without argument, experiencing restored health via one's faith is richly encouraging. By contrast, failure to be revitalized can be the source of profound discouragement, disappointment and even depression.  It may even seem logical to a person who has strong faith that no illness should remain for long.  However, if you possess a strong belief in God and also endure chronic illness or pain, you probably have struggled with your faith.  Why hasn't God made me well?  Without doubt you have prayed for just such a miracle, and may also have others praying for you.  The fact that your pain remains month after month, or even year after year, may well have caused you heavy discouragement.

It is easy to assume that if one seeks to live by God's will and loves Him, He will always relieve one's physical suffering.  Yet, there you are, still bound by pain, disease or disability.  Does the lack of physical relief mean that there is something wrong spiritually?

Some may question your faith and try to say that if you had enough faith then you would be no longer troubled by your ailment, but a simple reading of the Psalms of the Bible challenges that assumption.  Many of the Psalms speak about people of faith who suffered.

Even in the New Testament, we find believers who suffered with illness or pain.  The Apostle Paul, writing in the II Corinthians, Chapter one, assures them that they who are suffering will receive spiritual comfort from God when they endure trouble.  Therein lies a concept which is hard to accept for many Christians, that they can have troubles like illness and pain, and they are often enduring and chronic.

You have to experience trouble before comfort means anything.  We all want to experience the comforting love of God yet would rather avoid needing that comfort.  Comfort, however, is meaningless if we have no need for it.

Within Scripture there are three plain messages:   First, Christians experience trouble;  Second, God is fully aware of their suffering; and Third, instead of removing that trouble, God sometimes chooses to give only spiritual comfort. That is a different course of action than many expect from God.

If physical relief were the most important task for God to attend to, He would certainly provide it!  Of course, God does not bring troubles upon us, but neither does He spare us from them.  The health of our spirit is sometimes not attained, or even thought of, until the health of the body is lost.  We have to conclude that  spiritual comfort is therefore more important than physical comfort.

Paul always draws our attention to the understanding gained by suffering Christians and how they can reach out to help others.  Have you ever been offered help by someone who never had any experience with the trouble under which you are buried?  Have you ever been offered comfort by someone who was or is buried just as deep as you?  Which one offered more meaningful comfort?  Which one would you seek out if you had to choose?  It's obvious that there is great training value in enduring troubles.

Christians are supposed to gain experience with all kinds of difficulties, work their way through them with the comfort of God and His people, and then pass along sympathy, empathy, caring and comfort to other people who hurt.

Many people provide support to those wrestling with the challenges of illness or pain.  Obvious acts of kindness include listening, reading aloud, providing meals etc.   But genuine comfort is often communicated beyond the words and actions through an attitude of understanding.  That depth of understanding comes only by having been through a similar challenge.  It is priceless training, equipping the Christian to extend encouragement to those who truly need it.

In II Corinthians, Chapter four, Paul draws an analogy between mortal men and jars of clay which hold a valuable treasure.  The less you value the clay pot, the more you concentrate on what is inside of it.  By contrast, the beautifully ornate container of a treasure becomes an item of worth in itself, and can distract attention from the true treasure inside.  His point is clear.  The spiritual health of a person is a treasure.  Their physical condition may be like crumbling old clay, but that will only highlight the infinitely greater value of a spiritually healthy mind, the inner treasure.

As mentioned previously, there are many Psalms which provide comfort like a refreshing cloth to a fevered brow. For a person dealing with chronic illness or pain, there is a multifaceted message to be found in the Book of Psalms.  Psalms vary from discussing dealing with fatigue, depression and disability, to anxiety and chronic pain.

For example, Psalm 6:   notice the vocabulary with which the chronically ill can so easily identify.  "I am faint"..."my bones are in agony"..."my soul is in anguish"..."I am worn out from groaning"..."all night long I flood my bed with weeping"..."my eyes grow weak with sorrow".  Sober thoughts of the possibility of death are seriously weighed.  The Psalm concludes with an uplifting sense of hope and relief of mind.

In Psalm 10, the author felt alone, helpless, overwhelmed by trouble and grief.  All too familiar to one who has chronic pain!  Once again, he is able to find bolstering for his spirit, but not necessarily for his body.

In Psalm 13, the author felt abandoned, struggled with his gloomy thoughts, unable to make sense of his awful trials.  He was depressed every single day.  The Psalm ends with his recapturing a confidence that things will be okay; he's cheerful, even feels like singing.  These are thoughts of coping. It doesn't mean the difficulty doesn't end.

In Psalm 31, the author is in anguish, torn up, overwhelmed both mentally and physically.  Note the chronic nature of the affliction, lasting a period of years.  His choice of words, "my bones grow weak", graphically portrays a chronic fatigue and long lasting illness.

In Psalm 102, the author talks about enduring a prolonged difficulty.  He's stressed out.  The days blend together without meaning.  His bones "burn with pain".  His appetite is gone due to discouragement, and he's reduced to skin and bones.  Sleep patterns are poor, and he cries often.  Yet even he has an unquenchable positive outlook on the future.

In Psalm 119, we find perhaps the most powerful, uplifting Psalm, that is a favorite of many readers of the Bible.  However, when you look closely at it you see that it speaks frequently about living with pain or illness..."I am laid low in the dust"..."My soul is weary with sorrow"..."My comfort in suffering"..."Before I was afflicted"..."It was good for me to be afflicted"..."My soul faints with longing for your salvation"..."My eyes fail, looking for your promise"..."I say, 'When will you comfort me?"..."I have suffered much"..."Trouble and distress have come upon me"..."Look upon my suffering".

In Psalm 22 we see the thoughts of a physically tormented man.  He is sleepless, hopeless, abandoned by friends and family.  His energy is drained.  His joints ache, his courage is melted, and he has pain.  He concludes the Psalm with a positive swing in attitude of mind to a sense  of hope.  But once again, it is in the mind that the hope has come, not the body.  

Think about the personal stories of the servants of God you have just read about.  We read about people who felt like they needed a safe place to crawl into and hide from overwhelming problems.  They were frustrated, discouraged and depressed people.  Some struggled with anger, many were fatigued and stressed out, with aching joints or bones and sleepless nights.  In short, we read about many servants of God who had chronic pain or illness.

I hope you are able to draw much encouragement by reading and identifying with these heartrending personal stories of the intimate thoughts, hopes and fears of people of faith who lived with chronic problems.  And I hope that two things stand out to you:  first, a person can have a sick body, and at the same time,  be " in good standing" spiritually with God, and second, regardless of poor health and maybe even because of poor health, a person can find mental and spiritual health through God if they ask Him for it.  

 Please remember that being sick or in pain does not mean that you have somehow failed God or are receiving punishment for something.  Unfortunately, illness and pain are often a part of living this life, but if we focus on our spiritual life and not our physical body, then hopefully we can transcend the problems with which we're struggling.  Look with hope to the future, when we will no longer be in pain or suffer with illness.  He promises there will come a time when He will wipe away every tear and we will no longer have this  pain or illness as our constant companion.  Until that time, He promises to comfort us if we will allow Him."