Show Me Where it Hurts

I’ve mentioned before that I ask God what He would have me write about. This morning I asked as usual. Sometimes the divine inspiration comes quickly and other times, God simply waits for me to catch on. This was one such morning.

Though I won’t go in depth about it, my body struggles with physical issues. This morning is a painful morning but the sun rose regardless of my issues. Life does go on and so must I. So, I sat at my computer with open mind and anxious fingers toying with the keys. My right foot, ankle and lower calf are particularly bothersome today and refuse to stay quiet as I work. I felt the Lord telling me to use that pain to make a point. Silly, silly me, I raised the argument that no one cared to read about my pain. (Ever argued with God? Sure you have!) It was pointless to argue but I did it anyway.

Can you hear the chorus of ‘She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes’?

So, while I was waiting for God to come up with something else, I headed to the kitchen to refill my coffee cup. First step away from the computer, foot and ankle screamed at me. Not to be daunted, I continued on to appease my coffee addiction. By step four, my knee buckled and the pain radiated in throbbing waves. Not so sure the coffee is worth it at this point but I’m a hardheaded lass and pushed forward. Finally at the coffee maker, I rebuked myself and that know-it-all mentality. Pain it is, Lord. I’ll write about pain. Don’t know where it will go but You are in charge and I’ll just hit the keys!

So, here we are. Let’s see where God takes this.

Pain serves many purposes. First, it alerts us to a potential problem. We’ve all heard a doctor tell us to show him where it hurts. Pain pin-points the area of concern so it can be dealt with accordingly. In fact, it could be dangerous if we are not feeling pain but have an injury.

Making the all important spiritual analogy, pain is also important in alerting us to sin in our lives and the area of concern so it can be dealt with accordingly. When we are walking outside of God’s will for us, we do indeed invite pain into our lives. Just as the pain in my ankle extended to my knee, when we do not eradicate what we may consider a small sin, it grows and branches out into other areas of sin and disobedience. Left unattended and ignored, sin grows and multiplies in our lives.

Let’s use a simple splinter in our foot as an example. For our purpose today, the splinter represents sin in our lives. As tiny as most splinters are, they do cause pain. If we ignore it, the effected area around the splinter gets red and tender. Before we know it, we can’t put weight on that part of our foot and we’re limping around; struggling to go about our daily life. Infection can set in; we are constantly aware of that pain. We run the risk of infection spreading to other areas; like our bloodstream…..the bloodstream that flows through our entire body. This bloodstream flows into our heart and our brain. Now, that tiny splinter has spread its nasty infection into the very core of all that gives us life.

Had we listened to the pain of the splinter and removed it from our foot, we could have avoided all the pain we brought on ourselves by choosing to ignore it.

Where there is pain in your life, whatever kind of pain, pay attention. Ask God to show you where the sin splinter in your life is hidden and make every effort to remove it quickly. The anxiety of actually removing it may be difficult but that pain is short lived. Letting it stay does much more damage.