The thin line between pain and joy

For the past few months my wife and I were a part of a small church plant, and while there I had the opportunity to do teaching.  It was quite an experience, and while it certainly had its stresses I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity.  Over the summer I have been working on a two-part sermon series that is titled...well, the title you just read above.  And over the course of the summer God has led me through the truths in a frustrating series of events that has led, ultimately, to circumstances that have resulted in me not teaching this there.  Among other things.

So guess what that means?  You, dear reader(s), get to wade through this business with me right here.  I wrote this intending it to be two parts, and God only knows how many blog posts this will wind up being.  Forty-five minutes of my speaking would make for one huge post.  So let's kick this off with a little Scripture:

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.--Genesis 50:20

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.--Hebrews 12:1-3

 In this world, one of the biggest driving forces of human behavior is pain.  It motivates us to do, or not do, virtually everything in life, and a major segment of our energy and attention is devoted to pain: experiencing it (and trying to not experience it), managing it, and trying to find meaning in the midst of it, for just a start.

Pain produces instinctual responses in us, hardcoded from creation.  For example: if you touch something hot, you pull back; likewise, if someone does or says something hurtful to us, our tendency is to get away from that person.  When something causes us pain we either try to get away from it or fix it, but it can also drive us to inaction from fear of walking through more or worse pain.  We use pain to teach our children proper behavior at ages when reason doesn't work; we modify its application for ages when reason does work but rebellion takes over.

But the eternal question that hangs over this entire issue: if the Creator God of this world is truly as loving and compassionate for His children as He says He is, why does pain exist?  Why is it that we continually walk through frustrations, difficulty, loss, death, and more--if God loves us, why all this?

I intend to establish, over the course of the next few posts, that not only is it absolutely not unloving for God to allow pain and struggle into the world, but that it would be utterly unloving of Him to not allow it.

There is an angry response to this, one which will take time to properly establish and respond to: "You can't possibly have anything worthwhile to say about this.  You haven't walked through (x type of pain my life has not yet grown to experience), so how can you possibly have any authority to speak into my life?"  It's true: there's a lot I haven't experienced yet.  I'm a newlywed so there's certainly a lot there I've been through that married folk out there can understand, but there's still so much I haven't.  I've never had to deal with any of the struggles that parents have; I've never lost a parent, or a child, or had that discussion with a doctor about making plans because in a few months...  I've certainly got my financial struggles, but I've never been faced with eviction or bankruptcy, with losing everything.

So here's the thing: my experience is not going to be the standard against which issues of pain are held.  God's Word is, and if He wills it I pray this will be helpful to those who read it.  I invite critique and disagreement in the comments below each post.

We're going to start at 30,000 feet and work our way down to ground level, beginning next post with the question of "What is the role of pain in a broken world?"