March 15, 2008, Pain

Pain

Pain sometimes is a locked from the inside of the heart.

In the fiction book 'The Shack' , Mackenzie during his search through his pain in 'The Great Sadness' after his daughter's tragic abduction and murder, in conversation with the Father , who is the character Papa, Papa says to Mackenzie, 'People are tenacious when it comes to the treasure of their imaginary independence. They hoard and hold their sickness with a firm grip.They find their identity and worth in their brokenness and guard it with every ounce of strength they have. No wonder grace has such little attraction. In that sense you have locked the door of your heart from the inside.'

I like this version in The Message. This may also pertain to stored up pain over time although that isn't the context.

2 Corinthians 7:9 Now I'm glad - not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss. 10 Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets. 11 And now, isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You're more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you've come out of this with purity of heart.

Job 14:22 Body and soul, that's it for us - a lifetime of pain, a lifetime of sorrow.

All through God's Word pain is referenced with a woman in child birth.

Isaiah 26:18 As a woman with child Is in pain and cries out in her pangs, When she draws near the time of her delivery, So have we been in Your sight, O Lord.

This represents life and death and living for both women and men in their toiling. All aspects of living, giving birth and dying. What an awesome plan God has for us.

And to all the young sisters that are giving birth all within the next 2 weeks to a month... In the pain of labor and birth, joy comes. Rejoice! Natalie
Jennifer
Stacey
Meagan
LeeAnne

Video & Song
'I Will Be Here' Steven Curtis Chapman
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pEwzUZET-RQ&feature=related

This is good.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qmy04L76P-k&feature=related