There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
- Revelation 21:4
I think I have mentioned the pain I experienced with the new kidney operation and subsequent issues.
Pain comes with this life and in all sorts of ways. We have physical pain, emotional pain, mental pain and anguish where we burn out. As our scripture indicates, we are in the days of the former things, and pain comes with the former things.
As I was laying in the hospital bed in physical pain internally and externally, and highly focused on my new kidney, I couldn't help but notice the number of people in hospital deep in pain, and far worse off than me.
Ten weeks along, and I am still doing two visits per week for blood tests and renal clinic meetings with specialists. One thing I notice is the people limping, shuffling, being trolleyed in wheelchairs and wheeled in beds, all in pain, some in extreme pain, and most of them are also worse off than me.
I have met people who have been in pain for years. I have been in pain for about three years, at times quite debilitating, but not like theirs. Chronic pain gets you down due to its relentless nagging. It is always telling you loud and clear that it is there. I have disabled friends in daily chronic pain, bearing it and walking on as if they had none.
"No more pain" seems like such as strange thing to add to scripture, don't you think? Only a person acquainted with pain would even think about it, let alone add it.
How many times do we experience pain in our lives?
From a baby's first smack on the bottom to an older person falling over or bumping into an object, or someone with a life-ending or life-changing disease or disability; pain is with us through this life.
Pain is associated with this body, and I feel that if God knows how many hairs are on our heads (Matthew 10:30), and therefore when one falls out, he knows the number of times we have been in pain.
It is hard to imagine a place without pain, yet, God tells us to aim for the endless life, so, when we pass through to that extraordinary future, pain stays on this side, as does death, tears, sorrow and crying.
When we put these five manifestations of human suffering together, we are thankful that God knows to leave them all on this side of that spiritual Jordan River.
On the other hand, for those who seek not to choose God while they have time in this life, horrific, haunting, intense pain which never, ever abates, sadly awaits them. I think that pain will mainly comprise of continual mental anguish. We have all suffered a tad of mental distress in this life, so having that all day and night (although day and night will merge into one), will be like constant teeth-gnashing mental torture without relief.
Today’s Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for pain, and thank you that you remove it as we pass to the next life. We saw that Paul welcomed tribulation, as it helped him grow, but he didn't speak about the pain that came with that. Please help me to stand tall though the pains of life.
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