Why Does God Allow Pain?
Haven’t we all asked ourselves, “Why does God allow pain?” I know I have multiple times. Painful times have hit me on more occasions than I care to remember. But the more pain I experience the more I think I am beginning to understand why God allows it. If you are in the midst of a painful situation, my sincere hope is that these three observations will help bring some comfort during this time.
We cannot escape all of the painful events in life. No matter how hard we try to avoid them, they will always find us. That’s because pain is part of the human experience.
In my own life, my typical responses to painful events have been bitterness or anger. It’s easy, isn’t it, to think that God is picking on us and treating us unfairly? But that response rarely helps. That’s because, although those are natural responses, those aren’t the expected responses. God desires more from us.
It’s better, in my opinion, to react to life’s pain with a certain gratefulness.
This is not Pollyanna thinking—I realize that pain is excruciatingly real at times.
But should it ruin us?
Painful events come and go and at some point, most of us can look back and find some purpose in them. Sometimes we have to look really hard because we don’t want to admit there could be anything good. We find a certain pleasure in hanging on to the pain—or our anger about it.
But I’m here to say that there IS purpose in it and that it becomes more apparent the more we accept it.
Here are three thoughts I have for why God allows us to experience pain:
1- WE MIGHT NOT RELY ON GOD OTHERWISE
Without question I have experienced a greater reliance on God when I’m struggling in life than when I’m on top of it. When life is on autopilot my attention seems to drift off of God and onto everywhere He isn’t.
I don’t try to get down on myself too much about it—it’s just human nature.
But my human nature is what typically gets me in real trouble in life. As I lose focus on God I begin to relax my standards and find myself drifting from Him. It’s not like a free fall out of an airplane—it’s more like letting a balloon go out of one. Still, it doesn’t take long to drift so far that you don’t know where you are anymore.
Life has its own checks-and-balances, however, and I inevitably get myself in enough trouble away from God that I end up causing myself some real pain. In other words, I often create my own painful events in life.
But, of course, there are many situations that befall us that we have no control over as well. These can be circumstances of health, mortality, relationships, financial problems and the like.
No matter where our pain comes from IT CAN CAUSE US TO SEARCH FOR HIM ONCE MORE.
My pain drives me to Him. As I do I begin to regain the peace and direction I need to adequately function in life. My pain either restores me to wholeness or strengthens me through renewed reliance on God.
2- WE MIGHT NOT GROW OTHERWISE
I was always near the top of my class in height as a child. It was a given that at the beginning of every school year I was going to be looking down on most of my peers. As a teenager, growing pains signaled I was growing even more.
I wasn’t a very confident child so I liked being tall. Consequently, I welcomed the pain even though it wasn’t always very enjoyable at the time. I endured the struggle for the opportunity to grow.
Isn’t this how life is too? We can only develop into a fuller human being by going through the growing pains.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is stagnation. This was much more descriptive of most of my life. I really feared the possibility of pain and avoided everything that might bring it. As a result, I lived in a comfort zone which was cozy but not very conducive to growth.
When we are choosing to not grow we are only hurting (and fooling) ourselves. Our stunted growth keeps us from reaching our potential as human beings. Our limited growth kills our future. There is another concept that comes out of stagnation and that is death.
But pain brings new life. Mothers can attest to this.
Enduring pain has the ability to make us more than we were before. We become stronger. We become smarter. And, as a final point, we are able to know how to help others better.
3- WE MIGHT NOT EMPATHIZE OTHERWISE
What may be the most positive outcome of my pain is the ability to better understand the pain of others.
By facing it myself I can know exactly what others are going through. I can clearly empathize with them and know just how and where they are hurting themselves. And, when the time comes, I can help them through it.
If none of us had a developed empathy for others where would the caring in life be? Who would help me when I am going through a painful time?
Pain helps us create a connection to one another and a desire to receive and offer assistance and comfort. Isolation is the anti-hallmark of humanity and it is created through a lack of understanding or need.
Pain has a peculiar tendency to bring down barriers. As we experience it together our humanity increases.
Take Away
If you, like I was, are trying to avoid pain you are only limiting yourself. Your ceiling is limited.
But if you can accept it, there is nothing that can stop you.
Or, if you are in the midst of a painful struggle and don’t know how to bear it, try to find comfort knowing there is a purpose to it. As you do I believe you will realize a new potential in your life. Your pain is bringing you to a higher level of humanity.
Hello, my name is Aaron Force. I’m a blogger based in Seattle, Washington. I’ve been spiritually-minded for most of my life. Unfortunately, I’ve also lost my way during much of that time. I felt a seed of greatness hidden somewhere deep down inside but was blinded from it. That is until I experienced an honest-to-goodness calling and moment of awakening. I would be lying if I told you I had it all figured out. But I’m here to tell my story and maybe, just maybe, help you become aware of an even more amazing universe than the one your rational mind already knows.
Aaron Force is a blogger from Seattle, Washington. He writes to educate others about the nature of an expanded consciousness to evolve humanity. Aaron unexpectedly experienced his own profound awakening and ego transcendence in 2015 and soon understood that the qualities of his own experience (a greater expansion and evolution in his life) could be applied to mankind collectively.