None but a masochist enjoys pain; pain is something that is endured at best and is feared by most. Those who live with chronic pain due to different diseases or disabilities speak of its debilitating force, sapping energy and leaving individuals worn out and unable to enjoy even the simple pleasures of life. Physical pain can be excruciating to bear; emotional pain is no easier to endure.
Dr Paul Brand, who worked with the Leprosy Mission in India for many years, offers a different perspective on pain, however, for the deadliness of leprosy is that it destroys the pain receptors in our body which actually serve as a warning signal of danger. Lepers lose their limbs because they cannot feel the pain which would cause them to recoil as a safety measure, and so they continue to put themselves in situations of constant, though unintentional, abuse. Pain acts as a warning to us that all is not well, he affirms, and is, in that sense, helpful to us.
In this context, we see what is the best way to deal with pain, according to the psalms of lament, and this is to bring our pain directly to God. We cry to God out of the depths (Ps 130:1). We bring our physical pain to Him (Ps 38:7, 17). We bring the emotional pain to Him (Ps 88:8). We pour out our complaints directly to Him (Ps 142:2) So often, the problem of pain is not simply the pain itself, but the feelings this causes: feelings of isolation, abandonment, rejection and hurt, feelings that this pain will last for ever and God will never show mercy to us again (Ps 77:7-9). We are free, the Psalms teach us, to bring these directly to God and to allow Him to minister to us and to lift us out of the pit of peril. C. S. Lewis called pain ‘God’s megaphone to a deaf world.’ If we allow our pain to send us to God, then it can indeed serve a redemptive purpose.