Were we running things pain wouldn’t be in our plans. That just shows how foolish we are. Pain can actually be profitable, even pleasurable in the end. It can produce things we would never possess without it. J. R. Miller was right when he wrote these words:
Everyone has sorrow. Being a Christian does not exempt anyone from grief. But faith in Christ brings a transformation of sorrow. Not only are we taught to endure the sorrows that come to us patiently and submissively—but we are assured that there is a blessing in them for us, if we accept them with love and trust.
One of the deepest truths taught in the Bible—is that earthly sorrow has a mission in the sanctifying of life. “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Hebrews 12:11
We dread pain! And yet the person who has not experienced pain—has not yet touched the deepest and most precious meanings of life. There are things we never can learn—except in the school of pain! There are heights of life we never can attain—except in the bitterness of sorrow. There are joys we never can have—until we have walked in the dark ways of sorrow. Not to have sorrow, in some form, is to miss one of life’s holiest opportunities. We get our best things—out of affliction! “I have refined you in the furnace of suffering!” Isaiah 48:10
