Pain.

Written by On Friday, 29 July 2016 11:56

Earlier this month, I read an online article about a bombing in Iraq just before the Eid holiday, actually it was a commentary to the post. And it read, ‘what is it about Iraqi life that makes it so easy to lose?’

The author of the note was agitated that the world wasn’t empathizing enough, you know with hashtags and with Iraqi flags in the place of Facebook profile pictures. I read that comment and it clung to my mind. I searched for the owner of the post to find out if they had more thought prodding quotes Hehe, I found a few others that would alter the course of this story if I told them here so I will have to share them later.

On reading that comment, I felt like as a human race we weren’t responsible enough and as a result we had let something slip, something that was fragile and it fell in a deafening sound. Possibly that was just me over thinking it Hehe. But when you read that statement you feel like you are not doing enough to feel the pain of loss.

And it’s all understandable because the only way we truly know pain is when we go through it. You know, you don’t marshal emotions to work, they just happen. Emotions like say happiness, you don’t get up, brush your teeth, take a shower and then go outside on the balcony and decide it’s time to be happy, no you just are happy or not.

On more than one occasion I have seen people wipe streaks of tears while in a bus, and that sight worried me.  On several occasions as well I have stopped teardrops from rolling onto my cheecks with the back of my hand in a Matatu. And then quickly looked away; in case someone wanted to ask why I was crying. The reason for the tears was that I was hurting as a result of losing people.

But then we are grown- ups, so we don’t cry when we are in pain, we move on, we put on make- up and go about our businesses. However much we try, the pain on the inside rages on, it creeps from our hearts into our minds and eventually into our businesses. And it’s possibly the worst kind of pain, because the cure isn’t always found.

Say you have lost someone or a job or are going through a heart-break; you don’t tell anyone and consequently people expect that you are fine, because we don’t do well with emotions.

That’s the situation I believe the widow in Nain was in when her only son died. She  was possibly distraught not wanting to be alive anymore. She must have been shattered unable to pick herself up, she must have been torn but then life had to go on. Thus on this particular day in Luke chapter 7, verse 11-17 she was going to bury her dead son and the bible records there was a procession as they went to bury her son. Then verse 13 records ‘when the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Jesus saw her pain, noticed it and he had pity on her. As kind as that may have sounded,she must have had heard it so many times before that she was probably  tired of that statement.

In verse 14 Jesus moved forward, touched the coffin and the young man was brought back to life. Just like that!

Many times when we are going through tempestuous pain,we wish that someone would just come and take it away without asking for an explanation like Jesus did for the widow in Nain. We do not just want someone to stare and look away, we want help.

Good thing for us the word of God gives us the assurance that God cares about our pain. The bible records in 2 Corinthians 1; 3-5 that God is the God of all comfort. And further it tells us in Psalms 34; 18 that he is close to the broken hearted and he saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Isn’t it amazing to know that the Lord who is all powerful and all-knowing still looks at us in our pain and has compassion on us? And that he expressly says we can find whatever comfort we seek in him?Thus, no heartbreak is above him, he knows it all and his heart glows with compassion when he sees us in pain.

 Can you imagine the one who made heaven and the earth is moved by the pain you are in? Like, the wonderful counselor, the prince of peace knows you are in pain and he does not chortle and walk away, he sees it all.

In psalms the bible records that he who fashioned the ear is able to hear and he who fashioned the eye is able to see. When Haggai was in the desert with her son,the Lord saw and heard her cry. And when the children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt the bible records that the Lord had indeed heard the cry of the Israelites and it concerned him.

So,if you are going through a rough patch or a period of great pain remember that in Isaiah 66; 9 the bible records that the Lord will not cause pain without allowing growth.

The pain cannot be in vain because the Lord is aware of it.

 

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