No More Pain
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be NO MORE PAIN, for the former things have passed away. – Revelation 21:4 NKJV.
The headline says, “Breakthrough Pain Relief Therapy” which for those suffering from pain sounds like great news indeed. There is an emerging treatment for pain, which uses light therapy, and this emerging pain treatment appears to be a very new technology, but researchers have been testing this approach for over 45 years. The therapy uses light emitting diode technology to relieve Arthritis and pain that is non-specific. I’m personally wondering if it will work on a toothache. The fact is that pain is a fact of life for every human being to some degree. So many people bear an incredible burden of pain every day from cancer pain to arthritis pain. From back pain to cancer pain there is more than enough pain to go around, and we would all welcome any kind of relief from whatever pain we may be experiencing. Not only do we experience physical pain, but also, there is emotional pain, and then there are some people who just give us pain.
The saints of old were not immune from pain from the boils of Job to the thorn of the apostle Paul to the torture of Christians, which continues even today. Jabez prayed that he would be kept from evil so that he would not cause pain. Jabez knew that would be hard for him because his very name meant pain. There is so much evil and pain in this world from murder to robbery and things so much worse that they are unspeakable and unprintable and there seems to be more and more of it.
How can we go on in a world of pain? How can live when it hurts so much? The apostle Paul was able to continue living with pain because God said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9a).” Paul responded by saying, “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10).” The heroes of the faith of Hebrews 11 were able to endure through faith and we are told, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Hebrews 11:13).”
All those saints of old who endured the pain of the world knew that there was a better world ahead and as the writer of Hebrews puts it so well, “God having provided something better for us… (Hebrews 11:40a).” Through faith, we look forward to that day when there will be “NO MORE PAIN!” And there will be on that glorious day, “no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying” and the “former things” will “have passed away.” By faith let us endure and through our weaknesses bring glory to our Lord.
(How do we cope with the pain that this world so often renders in so many different forms to everyone who has or will ever live on this planet?)