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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Personal Problems (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 41. Sorts of Pain.
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Sorts of Pain.
Pain is of two general sorts, pain of body and pain of spirit. At the time of that first break in Eden, Eve was told that there would be pain of body in the natural course of her life, quite apart from sickness or disease, and that prophetic word has had continuous fulfillment through all the centuries since. Pain through disease which disturbs the body, and through the weakness that keeps it from its full stint of work, has been as common. Then pain of body through violence, through man's inhumanity to his brothers, and through the ravages of war, has added intensity to the sum of suffering.
Pain of spirit is keener, harder to bear, and lasts longer than pain of body. It comes through bitter remorse or regret over one's own conduct, through disappointed hopes and plans, through lack of being appreciated, and through lack of a return love. It comes through the subjection of our immature powers to discipline, which need not be painful but most often is, in proportion to the strength of the character so being matured; it comes through the chafing of an unwilling spirit against the simple, natural discipline of life, which brings out fully our strength and beauty.
Then in our relation to others pain comes through failure in those we love, through being deceived by them, and through the wounding of family pride. The pain suffered by our loved ones brings keen pain to us, and the pain of having them slip from our grasp out of life may be shorter, but is always sharper and severer, with the dull throbbing that so often follows.
There is a sharp pain through culture, proportioned in its sharpness to the extent of the culture, and softened in its expression by the warmth of one's sympathy with others. The ear trained to finest harmonies is keenly sensitive to poor music. The eye trained to fine blending of colors is pained by immature and untaught work. The mind drilled to the discriminating use of simple, strong language suffers a bit at contact with the reverse. The heart made pure through contact with God, and through painful heroic discipline, is pained at the sight and touch of sin.
The heart grown tender through the Spirit of Jesus within is hurt by the suffering of the distressed. The spirit made eager for the highest ideals in life through the study of the Bible, the classic of ideals, is pained over the conditions prevalent in all walks of life. The man who knows the blessedness of knowing God bleeds at heart for those ignorant of Him.
The emergency that the whole world is in through sin calls for sacrifices that bring great pain of spirit. A young man in a small church college in the middle West was stirred by the needs of the foreign mission fields. He determined to offer his life and service to help meet that need. But before committing himself actively with his church authorities he wrote to her who had given him life, telling her of the burning desire in his heart, and asking her consent. By and by the answering letter came. It was blotted with tears. Its pages brought up a vivid picture of that mother's face and heart. She replied, in effect giving her consent, and then writing down these words: "I never knew until now how much it cost God to give His Son."
Many a one has suffered all these different sorts of pain at some time, and many of them at the same time. They all gather within the human spirit, incased temporarily in a human body. Job suffered pocket pain through loss of property, heart pain through loss of his children, pain of body through disease, pain to his pride through loss of prestige and the criticism of his friends, pain of spirit in puzzling over why it all came to him; then the hardest bodily pain in continued pain, and at the last the severest spirit pain in realizing how different he was from the God he worshipped.