I encouraged our members to submit questions, and this excellent-but-tough question came in anonymously, “Why do believers endure constant pain?”

Before I answer, let me share my sympathy and my prayers with this anonymous person in pain.  And then let me add that this is not an easy question to deal with, but it is an important question to deal with.  So let’s jump in.  Why do believers experience pain?

• Firstly, all human beings experience pain because we live in a world that is broken.  God created a perfect world, but none of us have experienced that and we won’t until we get to heaven.  In the meantime, just as God foretold in Genesis, life includes pain.  Even the best things in life (having children, for example) come with pain, and the most fulfilling things (like hard work) are difficult, challenging, and sometimes painful.  Life itself is painful, and this pain hits everyone, believers and unbelievers alike.  And tough as it is to explain, it hits some people much harder than others, through no fault of their own.

• The sin that brought consequences to the world also brought changes to our bodies.  Even the best of us are prone to injury and disease, and even those who are in the best shape and take great care of themselves find that they are breakable and experience pain.  We work hard for cures and health, but our bodies are so imperfect that we will never achieve full health and pain-free lives.

• Sometimes, human beings experience pain as a direct result of our own sin or the sin of others.  We take substances that lead us to stupidity, and in our stupidity, we cause both physical and emotional pain to ourselves and others.  (Drunk driving, for example.)  We overeat and underexercise leading to a variety of painful conditions.  We commit adultery and other sins  causing severe emotional pain to entire families.  We don’t always see it immediately, but sin causes pain, to the sinner and to others.

God can use pain in a variety of ways in our lives.  It can be used to teach us patience, sympathy, or compassion.  It can be used by God to get our attention and lead us to prayer and a deeper walk with God.  And God can use it in this way to an individual or to entire peoples or nations.  (Many times, God brought pain to the entire Jewish nation in order to bring them back to Him.)

Though I know these things in theory, I have to admit that I cannot always answer the “why” questions about pain.  Why is one particular person experiencing pain and someone else is not?  Though I know the general causes of pain, I can’t answer the individual causes.

To the person who wrote the question, let me just add that you are not alone.  Today, I spoke to a mom who has experienced deep emotional pain for 40 years because of a son’s addiction.  I spoke with someone else whose body has been racked by pain for years because of an accident caused by someone else.  And though I can’t explain their pain, and God has not chosen to release them from their pain, I admire them.  They have not grown bitter, nor have they turned away from God.  They are an incredible  examples of people who have lived well through their pain.