Pain is something with which I am intimately familiar. There are many kinds of pain that range from physical and emotional to spiritual and mental. I've dealt with chronic physical pain since I was a child. I've also had my fair share and then some of the other types of pain. One of the questions I wrestle with is why? Why does God allow me to be in pain? Why does He allow me to go through painful circumstances? Can't He see that I've had all I can take and that this isn't fair??
After many years, I think I may have found an answer to my question that satisfies me. But I can't give away the answer, you'll have to build a cathedral with me first.
To build a cathedral, you can't just run down to the hardware store and buy some giant stone blocks and arches. To build a cathedral you have to find a quarry of the right kind of stone. Chances are you will then have to transport huge chunks of stone quite a distance to your building site. After you get there, then you have to spend years carving perfect pieces that fit together just right so that you have a structure that can support it's own weight. Do it wrong, and it all falls apart. After much work and time, you finally get to make your cathedral beautiful. You must carve each bird, picture, face, and word that you want to adorn your cathedral. All of this takes time. A lot of time. When most of the the great cathedrals of the world were built, the men who started them did not see them finished during their life time. Can you imagine spending your entire life working on a project that you may never see finished? It's frustrating just to think about it. One of my favorite verses is found in 1 Peter 2:5 It says, You also as a living stone are being built up into a spiritual house with a holy priesthood so that you can offer up sacrifices to God that are pleasing and acceptable. (The Martha Translation). You know what that means? It means that I'm a cathedral. I am a living stone. I am being continual shaped into something more beautiful by every single circumstance and person I come in contact with whether it be good or bad. I am being shaped by pain.
It's a foreign concept to us that pain and suffering can be a good thing. It goes against our humanity to embrace suffering. It is the opposite of everything our body and mind says is right and good. But imagine the freedom that can be found in seeing a higher purpose to pain. Even the most petty annoyances can be used for good.
Still not convinced that your pain and suffering are a good thing? Then let's refine some gold.
Gold doesn't just show up in a pure form. It has to be refined. There are many ways to refine gold, but all of them involve separating the gold from other compounds or impurities. Gold is also the most malleable of all the metals. One ounce of gold can be beaten into 300 square feet. One of my other favorite scriptures is 1 Peter 1:7. It says "The trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold which is temporary, though it be refined with fire, will be found unto the praise, honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (Also the Martha Translation) This verse seals the deal for me. This tells me that no suffering is pointless if I belong to God. No pain is meaningless. No fire of life will kill me, it will only refine me. It will all be used for the glory of God, if I let it.
There is no promise or guarantee that following Christ will be easy. In fact, it won't be. If it were easy, it wouldn't mean as much. There will be pain and there will be suffering. It may be physical, it may be emotional, and I can guarantee that some of it will be spiritual. But there is great beauty to be found if you look. Whatever form your pain takes, whether it be the sharp chiseling pains of being sculpted or the the burning pain of being refined, let it be used for something good. Let God take the pain and use it to make you into something beautiful that has far more worth than gold and will last long after the last cathedral has crumbled into dust.
