“Is that your final answer?” You may remember those famous words from the TV game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” When we are in pain, we really want to hear God’s final answer, and that’s no game show. Since God can do anything, we want to know why He has allowed our pain.
You and I are not the only ones to ask that question. Did you know that the great Apostle Paul asked that question, too? He was going through some real suffering. He described it as “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me” (2 Corinthians 12:7). We don’t know exactly what Paul’s problem was, but we do know that it was horrible because the Greek word that he used for thorn means “a sharp stake used for torturing or impaling someone.” This problem was no minor splinter in his finger! He was enduring a long and painful situation, and God shocked him with an answer he didn’t expect. It wasn’t until after he had begged God three different times to take away his severe and persistent pain that God gave him His final answer.
Before we get to God’s answer, let me share another example of a good person enduring great suffering. Amy Carmichael was famous missionary who left a comfortable home in England in 1895 to work for God in India. She stayed there for 56 years. In 1931 she suffered a serious fall and was bed ridden for the next 20 years, suffering almost constant pain. She could have complained; she could have blamed God; she could have quit. Instead, she kept on working. During those 20 years in bed she wrote 13 books. This was her advice as to how to react to suffering: “We must learn to pray far more for spiritual victory than for protection from battle-wounds… This triumph is not deliverance from, but victory in, trial…”
God’s final answer to Paul was along to same line. My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). I’m like you. I don’t like pain, either. How could God’s grace be better than getting rid of the pain? To understand God’s answer, we must first understand what He means by “grace.” Grace is the presence, power, and peace of God in our lives. God’s grace is so great that it even prevails over pain.
We always want less pain, but sometimes God decides that it would be better for us to have more of Him. God is, after all, “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). In order for us to have more grace, then, we must have more of God. When God allows the pain to persist, we have a decision to make: do we want to keep pleading for an easier life or do we want to accept and enjoy a more intimate relationship with our God? If we really love God, we will choose to have more of Him, even if it means enduring physical suffering.
God’s final answer to Paul was that His grace would be more than enough. In other words, God was telling Paul that he would be happier having more of God than he would be with less pain. Paul rejoiced in the opportunity to have more of God. That’s why he said, “… Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).
If you are in the middle of a painful trial (it could be physical, financial or relational), allow God’s power to be made strong in your weakness. I invite you to share your pain with me. Email would be the best way to reach me: BethelChapelChurch@gmail.com. I would love to pray specifically for you. Don’t go through your pain alone. You can find God’s grace to be more than enough in the midst of your trial.
Leave A Comment