Romans 5:17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Due to Adam’s sin, death became the penalty. This explains why we live in a world full of pain and suffering. We understand the truth from the Bible and that is also the law that has been established. There is another law that is comforting for us; we are saved by God’s grace and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through His love, we are comforted as He upholds our pain and affliction.
The Acknowledge for Our Pain
‘For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one’. We cannot deny that death reigns on our lives,
Ecclesiastes 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
King Solomon claimed that everything happens equally to the righteous and wicked. He actually spoke from his own misery and backslidden experience, thus they are not valid. There are times we can see that the righteous ones or nice people tend to suffer more, from unfairness in life.
We live in a naturally sinful world, therefore we are to expect injustice and unfairness. If we can acknowledge this and accept the reality that we are living in and have to go through, it will lessen the feeling of agony in us towards the pain that events cause us.
Often we victimize ourselves due to situations like living in poverty, death of loved ones, health issues, or losing a job. Yet we fail to see that we are not the only ones that go through such problems. These are actually common problems that happen globally, and some countries have them so much worse than us.
Some of us may be involved in habitual addictions, and we struggle so much to overcome or withdraw from the addictions.
The truth is, every one of us somehow has some sort of problems that we have to deal with. That includes those of us believers who find our loved ones or family members who are not as faithful or committed to serving God but to yield to sinful acts. Subsequently, we may also allow that to affect us and our dedication to serve God.
Nevertheless, these are trivial problems that we can rely on God to help us, as compared to thousands of people out there who can’t even put food on the table and have to struggle with hunger on a daily basis or work on manual labor jobs with very low wages.
Don’t we consider ourselves much luckier?
The Appeasement for Our Pain
‘much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness’.
The reality is Christians do suffer just like anyone else in the world. Yet in the midst of our suffering and pain, we have the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ covering us, that is something for us to take comfort in and to be thankful for.
2 Timothy 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
As Bible believers, we surely understand that God puts us through the affliction for a reason, we can biblically justify the pain we have to endure. That understanding itself should tremendously lessen our feeling of despair.
Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Apart from Jesus’s blood, we have the scriptures; the word of God to guide us along the way. God’s words are the perfect navigation to pull us through afflictions, something we can strongly uphold even during the toughest of times.
2 Corinthians 7:13 Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.
Apart from the comfort from the word of God, we should also provide comfort to our brethren and sisters, as well as to seek comfort from them. Pray for one another, and be the source of consolation for one another too.
Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Just remember, that God is the one that we can always pour our hearts out to, and he reveals our biggest weakness and secrets. Whatever suffering we have, God is always ready to listen to us. When was the last time that we really got down on our knees, prayed, and confessed our hearts out to God?
2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
This is that one verse to remind us why we should treat our suffering as a blessing. It is for the sake of our testimonies! Consider it a gift God has blessed us with, to allow us to empathize with people who go through the same pain, for us to witness greatly to them.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
God is in control of everything, and He allows suffering to happen to us for a reason.
Acts 26:2 I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews:
Paul also reminded us that even in the midst of all the pain, we can still think happy, and be happy. It really is the matter of where we place our focus, if we focus on God’s blessings and His promises to us, it is really not difficult to experience joy.
We should learn to increase in our sanctification and walk with God, which will help us to get close to God, and thus increasing our joy gradually.
The Abutment of Our Pain
‘shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)’
Jesus Christ is the answer to ending our pain! Isaiah 40:1, John 15:26, Romans 5:1 are some of the verses that talk about Jesus Christ being our comfort and solution.
There are so many hymns that glorify the King of Kings! Turn to hymn singing whenever we need strength and comfort to overcome our pain and misery.
Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Comfort comes to us, not when we avoid them, but when we acknowledge the pain and suffering in our lives and rely on Christ Jesus to walk us through them.