Dealing with pain while running the race

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Your lungs are burning. Your legs are screaming for mercy. Even your mind is beginning to drift. Your brain is filled to the brim with doubt.

Ahhh, you can’t tolerate the pain any longer! Stop. Stop now!

But you don’t stop because you know a little discomfort isn’t going to kill you. In fact, if you want to be fit for soccer or basketball or cross country, it’s going to hurt. Pushing through some level of pain is pretty much unavoidable if you want to improve your endurance fitness.

Most of us equate pain with injury. But that’s not necessarily the case. The pain could just be because you haven’t performed lunges or run hills for a long time … or ever. A recent study in Germany found that athletes that can tolerate more pain than non-athletes. Now, athletes feel just as much pain as non-athletes. Athletes, however, are able to acknowledge the pain, distinguish the difference between “soreness pain” and “injury pain” and then brush it aside to get on with things.

The apostle Paul felt pain. The pain stuck him so bad that he described it as a “thorn in his flesh.” Whatever this thorn was, it was so painful that Paul depicted it as a “messenger of Satan.” We are not told what this specific pain was, but it was so severe that Paul pleaded three times for the Lord to remove it from his flesh. God’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

As Christians, whether we are older or younger, we go through many pains and difficulties. Sometimes these pains are from the devil. Sometimes these pains are brought on by the world around us. And sometimes these are self-inflicted pains. It is when these many and varied pains enter our lives that we appear weak and powerless. We want to give up. We want to stop and quit.

But it is through these humbling experiences that God’s grace and His perfect power are revealed to us. When we realize that we cannot make it on our own, that is when we rely on God for our strength and hope. God uses times of hardship and trial to draw our attention to His Word where He sustains us with undeserved love and almighty power.

Paul was able to push through the pain because He knew it was all a part of God’s perfect plan. The pain was God’s way of moving Paul’s focus from himself to God. Paul was able to deal with the pain while running the race of life because he knew that God would carry him through thick and thin. That’s why Paul was able to write: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Perhaps you feel emotional pain because you are cut from the baseball team because it practices on Sunday mornings and you decide that church is more important than baseball. You are able to whistle through your emotions because you know you are one of God’s children by faith in Jesus. Perhaps you feel the pain of loneliness because other kids at camp have their friends here and you haven’t made as many friends yet. You are able to cheerfully continue while playing four square or playing Mission Impossible because you know you are a part of God’s family through Baptism. Perhaps you feel physical pain because of diabetes or food allergies or something else that restricts what you can do. You are able to smile throughout the day because you know that God has written your name in the Book of Life.

May God grant you the strength and the grace to push through the pain as you run your race.

 

 

Questions:

Have you ever run so hard or so long that you were in pain and wanted to stop running? How did it feel to push through the pain and keep going to the finish line?

If you feel comfortable in sharing, what kind of pains do you feel? Do you delight in these pains/weakness as Paul did? Do you complain about them? Or boast about them?

How can God’s grace and power be enough to get you through the pain?

Describe the kind of pains that Jesus pushed through as He died? Why would He do that? Why not just quit?

 

Prayer:

Lord God, you work all things according to your love and wisdom. Spare each of us from hardship and heartache.  And, when you allow them into our lives, use them to draw us closer to you and increase our trust in your power and grace.  Amen.