The Weight of Pain

Have you ever wondered how much pain weighs? I have. It weighs a lot. And depending on who you are and how much pain you are used to enduring, it has a different level of impact on each of us individually. For that reason, we should never compare our pain to others. There have been many times when someone begins to share their heart with me and starts opening up about their pain, then they stop and say, “Now I haven’t suffered anything like you, (referring to the death of a child) but, this has really been tough for me.” I always insist they stop comparing pain levels because pain is pain and none of us enjoy the experience.

Jesus had something to say about the weight of pain in Matthew 11:28-30. 'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”'

Every time I read this scripture; I have a mental image of trading my backpack for His. Mine can get so heavy. I usually have it filled with so many cares of life that I feel completely weighed down by it all. Sometimes that weight is sickness and illness that I just can’t move past. Other times it may be financial challenges that overwhelm me and seem to be impossible and never ending. Or it is family and marriage related that seems to last forever without relief. But whatever it is, Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” He’s giving us the opportunity to trade with Him. Just think, He is offering to carry your burden in exchange for you carrying His. Wait a minute, why is His lighter, I thought he carried a cross? Because he overcame and He knows you’re still working on your victory. How often have we asked God to please lighten our load just a little so we can make it one more day? Look deeper. It’s not just one more day He is trying to give you, it’s an eternal life filled with unending days of peace and joy.

“But you just don’t know how much I hurt!” Maybe I don’t, but maybe I do. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t suffered and endured pain. Remember, don’t compare. The following is something I wrote a few years ago during some of the most painful times in my life.

“There is no greater weight for us to carry than the weight of our own pain. There is no greater force exerted than that of a person trying to hold back the floodgates of tears which are powered by the force of one's pain. Where do we find the resolve to keep bouncing back from the repeated blows to our dreams? I have spent my life dreaming of a better time, a better place and a better me, but time after time, circumstances outsmarted me and crushed my dreams against the shores of my own journey.

“Yet I arise and start again as a runner that has no other purpose in life than to complete the race, win or lose. It is a powerful force that drives us forward on the road of our lives. A force that many possess yet may or may not choose to engage. It is also a force that some misuse. There is a force that propels many of us when everything and everyone would provide us with the necessary excuse to give up.

“We are not remembered for what we have accumulated or gotten out of life. We purchase our place in history with the value of what we have given. Usually, it has cost us everything. Why is it that we relate so readily to pain? Why are we encouraged and inspired by the pain of others? Why is pain one of our greatest, yet most despised, teachers? Why is it that she can also be our most dreaded enemy? The last thing people in pain want is the insincere sympathy of those who have never known what it really means to hurt.

“Most of us are all too familiar with trials and testing and the pain that often comes with the tests of life. Many of us have learned to cry out to God for mercy and help during these times of need, but how many of us have learned to recognize and understand the answers God sends in response to our cry? Like so many of the highs and lows that make up my life, I have recently been found worthy to travel through another one of the lows.”

So, how much does pain weigh? A lot. And what do I need to do with the weight of my pain? Swap it with Jesus. Is pain normal and necessary? I’ll let you decide.

And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:21,22 (KJV).

Dr. Randall Mooney

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