The Purpose Behind Pain

Many people try, and fail I might add, to explain the great mystery of why our loving, Heavenly Father allows pain in this world.  Many times, people will ask deep, stirring questions like, “why is God allowing me to be in debt?” “Why is God letting me slip up with such-and-such sin?” “God, why do You allow suffering and death in the world?”  All these questions are extremely important, and can be answered in-depth on an individual basis.  But as for the overall reason for “bad-ness” in the world, we don’t have to go to a wise sage for the answer.  Rather, The Almighty Himself explains His reason behind hardship.

In this weeks portion, “Eikev,” we read Moses’ words to the people of Israel as he explains the reward for observing and doing the The Holy One’s commandments.  In the midst of these verses, God speaks through Moses, and offers up His reasoning behind His allowing His people to face intense hardships in the wilderness years, “You shall remember the whole way that The LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deuteronomy 8:2).  So why was Israel, God’s supposed beloved people, allowed to experience trouble, uncertainty, and even death for the last forty years?   Because God desired to test their faith.

One might say, “How cruel!  I don’t think God would do that!  That’s not the loving God I know!”  Quite to the contrary, this one, big, forty-year-long test was one of The Almighty’s greatest acts of love, for it is written just after this, “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, The LORD your God disciplines you” (Deuteronomy 8:5).  In other words, those whom He tests, He loves.  The bigger the test, the greater the love.  1 Corinthians 10:13 states, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Make no mistake, every hardship is a temptation.  A temptation that entices the tempted to hand his head in lack of faith, or to erect his head in defiance of Heaven, or to simply give up hope.  To this condition, Paul states emphatically, “The LORD disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He recieves” (Hebrews 12:6).  How exciting!  The Master of the universe actually cares enough about us to test our love for Him.  Rather than allow us to walk aimlessly through life without purpose from Above, He plays an active role in refining us when we ourselves are unable to do so!  The best, and really only, way to do this is by way of pain.

To put a cherry on the issue, this weeks portion was named, thousands of years ago, “Eikev” which means “reward.”  Why would reward be the title of a portion that talks about pain, suffering, testing, and trial?  Because, The Creator wants you to know that, as He looked at your bare soul before the world was created, and exactly assessed how much pressure you could handle in this world, He did so with the sole intent of never allowing you more than you could handle, so He could absolutely promise you that, if and when you make it through these tests, there will be the greatest reward awaiting you.  Are you willing to remain faithful through the fire?  Are you excited about the promised land that awaits you at the end of the wilderness journey?  Or do you need to be reminded that, even in the midst of this heated desert, “with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, [He] brought you water out of the flinty rock,” and “your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years” (Deuteronomy 8:15, 4).