“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “no pain, no gain.” Apparently it had been around for a while before Jane Fonda made it popular in her 1980s exercise videos. Benjamin Franklin wrote, “No gains without pains” in Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1745. Most of the time I understand pain to be a signal from my body saying, “STOP something is wrong!” I remember back in high school, the one year I was silly enough to join the track team, after the first day of training I was so sore I thought for sure something was wrong. Of course I went from zero exercise to working out for 3 hours almost every day of the week. I could barely move I hurt so bad, and I remember asking my dad if the pain would ever stop because it lasted for weeks. I should have known to wash my hands of the whole sport when the coach made me run hurdles because “everyone must try out every activity.” I’m sure you can imagine how that went down.
Fast forward to when I had foot surgery. My podiatrist told me I would have to walk through the pain to get better. In the end, after almost a year of semi-recovery and additional related aches and pains, I finally adjusted my walk so it was “normal” and, he was right of course, I had to walk through even more pain to regain correct walking habits. But if I hadn’t forced myself to walk correctly, even though it hurt, everything would continue to get worse and not better! So praise God my foot feels better now than it has in over a year.
I thought the pain mentioned in Revelation 21:4 was simply the emotional pain of those who were losing loved ones. But now I understand this statement to encompass physical pain as well. For some reason, in our culture we assume that only “old people” have aches and pains and need surgery. I can’t tell you how many people have told me “you shouldn’t need foot surgery you are so young!” Well that’s great and all but the pain doesn’t seem to realize that. From the moment we exit the womb, pain can strike at any time, young or old, rich or poor, pain doesn’t discriminate which is why the promise of God to wipe away all our tears and to take away all our pain is so reassuring. God has promised all along that He will heal us both inside and out, “For I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26d). But He never said it would be painless. Unfortunately sin brings with it pain and suffering both physical and emotional.
When Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses and the Lord told them of their sin, Miriam became leprous and even though Moses tried to intercede on her behalf the Lord commanded that she be shut out from the camp for seven days and then be reinstated (Numbers 12). Although God could have healed her immediately, He didn’t. Why?
“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:6-11).
There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord wished only blessings for Miriam. In order to receive those blessings her heart had to be stayed upon God and not herself. God knew her heart and only He knew what it would take to bring her back into a right relationship with Him. And not just her only but everyone else in the camp who witnessed what had just happened. Pride started this whole mess with sin and in order to be in a relationship with God we must put away all such pride. Much of our pain and suffering is self-inflicted. We make mistakes and do things that aren’t smart or that we know will harm our bodies. Other pain is caused by things we have no control over. As Solomon said, “time and chance happen to [us] all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11g). Then there is the chastening of the Lord, which could be painful physically and/or emotionally. Whether the Lord has caused something to happen or not, He can certainly use pain and suffering to guide us back to Him, the giver and sustainer life. God does what is best for us and for His people as a whole. Perhaps I’ve spent more time in prayer recently because of my pain. Perhaps I can sympathize better with others because of what I’ve experienced. God can use any situation or any person to better prepare us to receive the kingdom of heaven in our hearts. This is not to say that we should just sit back and not do anything about what is happening to us but rather to allow God to help us through difficult times, fostering our faith instead of blaming Him for our problems. Miriam could have easily and understandably walked away from God at this point. But she didn’t. Why? Because she allowed the chastening of the Lord to yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” in her life. In this world of sin, pain is inevitable and sometimes necessary to produce a better end result, "no pain, no gain." Let us look forward to the day the Lord has promised to take away all our tears and pain, no more medical problems, no more death or sadness, and all necessary chastening will be complete as we stand before Him who knows our sorrows and was with us every step of the way.