Rick Warren - God’s Promise in the Pain You’re Going Through Right Now

One of the most perplexing questions that people ask is

why is there pain in the world? And why does

a good God allow pain? You know, it's not a

new question. Thousands of years ago, Solomon asked this question

in the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. In Ecclesiastes,

Chapter two, verses twenty two and twenty three, he says this,

so what do people get for all their hard work

and their struggles here on earth? Their entire life is

filled with pain, and their work is unbearable, and even

at night their minds don't rest. It all seems so pointless. Now,

many scientific studies have documented that human beings are able

to handle enormous amounts of pain if if if we

know there's a good purpose for that pain. You see,

it's worthless pain, it's arbitrary pain. It's pain that feels pointless,

pain without any purpose. That's the kind of pain that

is so unbearable and so intolerable. When you see a

purpose behind pain, you can handle enormous amounts of it.

For instance, many of you women have given birth to

a child. Giving birth is painful, but women bear that

pain for a great purpose. They bring forth life. Pain

with a purpose is manageable. Pain without a purpose is unmanageable.

No matter what kind of pain you're going through right now,

or no matter what kind of pain you're going to

go through in the future. It may be physical pain,

it may be emotional pain, it may be spiritual pain.

It may be financial or relational or mental mental pain.

You will be far better prepared to handle pain. You'll

be far better prepared to cope with it if you

focus on the potential benefits and the possible purposes of

that pain. I know somebody saying, well, okay, where do

I get the courage and truth to focus on when

I'm in deep pain? Well, the answer is the Bible.

The Bible, the Book of God's Holy Word, is where

you focus to get the purposes and the potentials and

the promises of God. They're all in the Bible to

help you handle the pain that's in life. Romans eight

twenty eight says this, we know that in all things

God works for the good of those who love Him,

who have been called according to His purpose. Now look

at that verse for just a minute. We know that

in all things God works for the good. It doesn't

say all things are good. Obviously, there's a lot of

bad things in the world, and so not everything that

happens in your life is good, And you shouldn't even

act like everything that happens in your life is good.

There's a lot of bad things that happen to you

and other people because there is evil, there is sin

in the world. But the Bible says, we know that

in all things God is working for the good of

those who love him. Now, this is not a promise

for everybody. It's only a promise for those who love Him,

who've been called according to his purpose. But if you

love God and if you're trying to live according to

his purpose, the Bible says God is working in all things,

even the bad things, the evil things, the terrible things,

the sinful things, the painful things of life. God says I,

and I'm working even in all those things for your good.

What is this verse teaching us. It's telling us that

pain can be managed by purpose and on purpose, and

for a purpose. Everybody has problems, but some people profit

from them and some don't. They don't know how to

learn from their losses. Everybody has losses, and some people

learn from them and others don't. Believers who grow are

those who learn how to harvest their hurts. They learn

learn from their losses to profit from problems. They learn

how to improve from their injuries, how to advance from

their adversity, how to gain from their pain. This is

what God wants to do in pain, using the pain

in your life. God doesn't have to create pain. There's

plenty of pain already in the world, but God wants

to use it for good. And this is why the

question Paul asked in Galatians chapter three is so important.

In Galatians chapter three, verse four, Paul says this to

the people there in the church in Galatia. He says,

have you gone through all of this for nothing? Is

it all really for nothing? In other words, have you

wasted the pain in your life? That's a question that

I have to ask myself. It's a question you have

to ask yourself and say, well, is it too late

to change?

No, it is not.

It's not too late to change your mind. It's not

too late to start benefiting from the pain. Let's look

at five ways to use your pain for good in

your life, whether it's physical or emotional, or relational, financial,

any kind of pain. God wants to use it five

different ways for good in your life. Now, let me

give you a personal testimony, but I'm going to share

with you today. I know this works from personal experience

as I'm sharing this message right now. This is the

sixth anniversary of when our youngest son died, and that

day was the worst day of our family's life. And

yet we are moving forward, and we're moving forward in

hope because of what we know from God's word, like

the verse I just read, and because of how we've

used that pain for good and for God in our

lives and in the lives of others. So what I'm

sharing with you is from personal experience. Five ways God

wants to use your pain for good. Number one, use

pain to draw closer to God and trust him more.

Use the pain in your life to draw closer to

God and trust him more. You know, when anything painful happens,

you've got a choice. You can either run to God

or you can run from God. And now the second

way never made any sense for me. If you're running

away from God, what are you running to? Who could

help you more in your pain than God? Why not

run to God? But some people, when they're in pain

they run to God. And some people, when they're in pain,

they actually run from God, they run away from Him.

You know, I'll have to tell you, since Matthew died,

I've spent more time personally alone with God than all

of my previous life combined.

Why.

Pain has a way of drawing you close to God. Now,

how do you do that? How do you draw closer

to God when you're in pain? Well, the first thing

you do is you just tell Him exactly how you feel.

If you want to argue with God, argue with God. God,

I don't like this, God, I'm mad, I'm upset. That's

a prayer. It's called the prayer of lament. You need

to learn how to worship God in all the phases

of grief. You know, our family did what Paul did

in tewod Corinthians chapter one, in verses eight to ten,

he says this. He talks about a time he was

so depressed.

He says, we were.

Crushed and overwhelmed, and we saw how powerless we were

to help ourselves. Ever felt like that, Paul says, but

that was good. What do you mean, crushed, overwhelmed, powerless?

He says, that was good? For then we put everything

into the hands of God, who alone could save us,

and he did help us. One of the first things

our family did after Matthew took his life is we

actually went away on a retreat together as a family,

and we did a surrender to God retreat together where

were saying, God, We're going to put this all in

the hands, all of our brokenness, all of our pain,

all of our hurt, all of our sorrow. Can you

imagine that kind of sorrow? And as a family we

did a surrender to God retreat. Why because pain can

draw you close to God if you'll let it. The

Bible says God is close to the broken hearted. God

is never closer to you than when you're in pain.

And many of you could say pain turned me to Christ.

That's why Paul later says in Second Corinthians, chapter seven,

verse ninety, says, I'm glad not because it hurts you.

I'm glad not because it hurts you, but because the

pain turns you to God. And that's the first thing

you can do. Don't waste your pain, let it turn

you to God. Spend longer times with him, reading the Bible,

studying his word, being quiet, listening to God, being alone

with God. That's what pain can do. It can draw

you closer to God. That's called worship. Number two. The

second way you can use pain for good is to

use pain to draw closer to others. Use pain to

draw closer to others. This is called fellowship. If you

allow it, and if you're honest about the things that

are causing you pain, pain will deepen and mature your

love and your relationships and your sense of community and Poynanea,

it will build authentic relationships. You see, suffering sensitizes you

because it turns you away from being self centered to

all of a sudden, when you've gone through a major pain,

you're sensitized to it in others and you can see

other people in pain, and all of a sudden, you

care more about other people in pain. You know, there's

a sad statistic that about a third of marriages end

up splitting up after the loss of a child because

we all all grieve differently and off and a husband

grieves one way and a wife greaves in another way,

and it causes people to go further and further apart.

But Kay and I, when Matthew died, decided that we

were going to use the pain to actually grow closer

together rather than have it drive us apart. And one

of the things we did is we decided to not

try to talk each other out of our pain. But

when Kay was going through a down moment, a wave

of grief, I would simply walk over to her and

put my arm around her, or just stand by her

and be quiet. I wouldn't say anything. There were no

words to say. It's just the ministry of presents. The

deeper the pain someone is going through, the fewer words

you use. Sometimes people are afraid to go over to

a friend's house when they've lost love and.

Say, I don't know what to say, don't.

Say anything, just show up and shut up, just be there.

It's the ministry of presence. They don't need words, they

just need your presence. Like when the night Matthew died

and our small group came over and said, we're spending

the night at your house.

We're not going to leave you here alone. We're gonna

be with you.

And they didn't try to preach any sermons or give

us any words of wisdom. They were just there the

ministry of presents, and they slept on our couches and

you know, in our kitchen and everywhere. And I'll never

forget that. And now when Kay and I would go

through different waves of grief. I'm going through grief, she

would come over and just stand with me, or sometimes

a pat on the back or grab my hand, the physical,

you know, touch without.

Trying to explain something away or.

Trying to talk somebody out of their pain. Instead of

trying to help somebody get out of their pain. Don't

try to cheer people up when they're in grief. Instead,

try to enter into their grief and feel it with him.

That's how you use pain to build fellowship. That's how

you use pain to build a relationship. That's how you

use pain to get closer to someone, not trying to

talk them out of what they're feeling, but actually you

trying to feel it with them, sharing it with them.

I will tell you.

I asked, Kay, why do you think we're so much

closer together after you know, Matthew died.

She said, because you've been so nice to me.

But we intentionally worked at strengthening our relationship and we

gave each other grace. And what that means is we

didn't judge each other other's feelings. You see, we often

think our feelings are legitimate, but your feelings are illegitimate.

My fears are rational, your feelings, your fears are irrational.

No.

No, we gave each other grace, so you stop judging

each other's feelings and try to feel each other's feelings.

That's what you do in pain to grow it closer relations.

Chapter six, Verse two says this, by helping each other

with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ.

What is the law Christ? Love your neighbor as yourself.

And he says when you share with each other in

the suffering, and you hurt when other people hurt. Now

you're loving your neighbors yourself. Pain can teach you how

to really love, because love is not a quiver in

your liver. Love is doing the sacrificial thing. Number three.

Third way you can use pain for good.

In your life.

I can use it to draw closer to God, to

trust him more. That's worship. I can use it to

grow closer to you and be closer in fellowship. Number three,

Use pain to grow deeper like Jesus in your character,

use pain to grow deeper like Jesus. The Bible calls

this discipleship, and every time you're in pain, it is

an opportunity to work on your attitude, to work on

your virtue, to work on your character. The Bible talks

about the fruit of the spirit nine qualities. The fruit

of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,

self control. The Bible says, these are what happens when

the Spirit is living through your life. How does God

build these qualities in your life by putting you the

exact opposite situations. He teaches you love when you're around

unlovely people. He teaches you joy in the middle of grief.

He teaches you patience by putting you in situations where

you have to wait. He teaches every one of these qualities.

Self control by putting you in a situation where you're

attempting to be not self controlled. Pain is an opportunity

to grow in character like Christ. But again, it's a choice.

When you're in pain, you can be bitter or you

can become better. Pain can be a stepping stone to

maturity or a stumbling block to immaturity.

It's not a automatic.

The Bible says in Proverbs twenty verse thirty. Sometimes it

takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.

Anybody who want to give a testimony on that verse.

Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change

our ways. We don't change when we see the light.

We change when we feel the heat. Now, once you

have come to Christ, you're saved. You're in the body

of Christ. You're in the family of God. You're a

child of God. Once you're in God's family, God's number

one purpose in your life is to make you like

Jesus Christ. You're born again. Now, he wants you to

grow up like father.

Like son.

He wants you to have the characteristics of God, the Father.

God wants to make you like Jesus Christ. He's the

perfect model of humanity. Now here's the corollary to that.

If God's going to make me like Jesus, then He's

going to hate me. Through everything Jesus went through. Did

Jesus experience pain?

Of course he did.

Did Jesus experience times when he was lonely, Yes, when

he was tempted to be discouraged, Yes, when he was

simply tempted? Yes, did Jesus have people misunderstand him and

criticize him. Yes, if God is going to make you

like Jesus, He's going to take you through everything Jesus

went through. God did not spare Jesus from being criticized,

from being persecuted. Why would he spare you. He wants

you to grow up in character and be like a son.

The Bible says in Hebrews chapter five, verse eight, even

though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience from the

things he suffered. We learn obedience through suffering. In fact,

Hebrews chapter five, verse nine says it like this suffering

made Jesus perfect. And now he can say forever all

who obey him, Now Jesus was perfect.

What does that mean?

Well, this word telos in Greek means complete. Suffering made

Jesus complete. There's some things we only learn through pain,

and so we want to draw closer to God, we

want to draw closer to others, but we want.

To become more like Jesus.

And God wants to build the character of Christ in

your life, and some of those things can only be

built through pain. In fact, Paul complimented the way that

the Corinthian believers had actually grown through their pain in

tewod Corinthians, chapter seven. He says this verse eleven, Now,

isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress?

They had gone through some major distress there in corinth

isn't it wonderful all the ways in which this distress

has goaded you closer to God?

That's the first purpose.

You're more alive, You're more concerned, more sensitive, You're more reverent,

You're more human, you're more passionate, you're more responsible. Looked

at it from any angle. You've come out of this

with purity of heart. I love that message. Translation of

that passage, he says these seven things, being concerned and sensitive,

and reverent, and human and passionate, responsible, being fully alive

says you want these things in your life that ask

God to use the pain that's in your life to

help you become more like Jesus.

You see. The fact is pain always transforms us.

Either for good or bad. It'll make us bitter or better.

As I said, pain never leaves you where it found you.

And Second Corinthians eleven, verses twenty three to twenty eight,

Paul gives the testimony of all of the pain he's

been through. He said, I've been put in jail more often.

I've been whipped times without number. I faced death again

and again and again.

Five times.

I was whipped with thirty nine lashes, three times. I

was beaten with rods once, I was stoned with stones

three times. I was shipwrecked once. I spent a whole

night in the day a drift at sea. And he says,

I faced dangers my entire life from flooded rivers, from robbers,

from angry mobs. I faced dangers in the city and

in the deserts and on stormy seas, and for people

who claim to be Christians but are not. He said,

I've lived with weariness. I've lived with pain. I've lived

with sleepless nights. I've often been hungry and thirsty. I've

often gone without food. I've often shivered with cold, not

enough clothing to keep me warm. And besides all this,

I've had the daily burden of all of the churches

that I've started. Then, he says, in response to all

of those things, I mean, you think you had problems

haul did Second Corinthians four verses eight to ten. Here

is his attitude toward it. He said, you know, we're

pressed on every side by trouble. Okay, it just comes

pressing in on us. But we're not crushed, We're not broken.

Okay. He says, we're perplexed, but we don't give up

and quit.

He says, we're often confused about life, but we don't

give up even when we don't know the answers. He says,

we're hunted down, but we're never abandoned. God never abandons us.

He says, we get knocked down, but we get up

again and keep going. It's like a boxer. I get

knocked down, but I'm not knocked out, and he says,

we get up again and keep going through suffering. Paul says,

these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus,

so that the life of Jesus may also be seen

in our bodies.

WHOA.

Those three passages are amazing testimony of resilience.

What was Paul's secret? What was Paul's.

Secret of the ability to get back up again? Well,

it was an eternal perspective. He had a greater purpose.

As I said earlier, you can handle unbelievable pain if

you can see a purpose in it. And in Two Corinthians,

Chapter four, verses sixteen to eighteen. Here's the purpose that

Paul says keeps him going for this reason. This is

the reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical

being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is being

renewed day after day.

He said.

I can't stop the aging process, but I can stay

fresh and renewed in my spirit on the inside. He says,

these temporary troubles we suffer will bring us a tremendous

and eternal glory. The reward in heaven much greater than

the trouble, For we fix our attention not on the

things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen.

Because what can be seen last only for a time.

It's temporary, but what cannot be seen last forever. This

is the power of growing in Christ when you're in pain,

of seeing a greater perspective that, yes, I'm in pain

right now, but even if I had chronic pain my

entire life, my entire life might be sixty seventy eighty

at the most ninety years or so. But I'm going

to benefit from it in heaven and receive the rewards

and reap the benefits for trillions of years. He said,

that stuff's going to last forever, so have them greater

perspective when you're in pain. That's not just here. And

now let me give you a fourth reason. Remember the

five purposes. The fourth purpose is the purpose of using

your life to make a contribution and having a ministry

or having a place of service. You weren't put on

this earth to live a self centered life. So here's

the fourth way you can use pain. Use pain to

be or become more sensitive in serving others. This is

called redemptive pain. It is the highest and best use

of pain. That when I'm going through pain, rather than

focusing on my pain, I redirect my focus to other

people are in pain. And as I said earlier, pain

sensitizes us. If you have struggled with depression, you're sensitive

to other people who are depressed. If you have struggled

with physical pain like back pain, then you're sensitive to

other people who've had back pain. If you've gone through

the pain of a divorce, you know what it's like,

and you are sensitive to people who go through the

pain of a divorce. It doesn't matter what pain you've

gone through. Jesus wants to redeem your suffering.

He doesn't want to waste it. He wants to use it.

He wants to use it to help other people when

they are in pain.

Tewod Corinthians, chapter one.

Verses four to six. It's a powerful passage that says

this God comforts us in all of our troubles so

that we can comfort others. Then when other people are troubled,

we will be able to give them the same comfort

that God has given us.

You can be sure.

Paul says that the more we suffer, the more we

suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with

his comfort through Christ. So he says, when we're weighed

down with troubles and pain, he said, it's for your

benefit and salvation. But when God comforts us, it is

so that we in turn can be an encouragement to you.

Then you can patiently endure the same thing we suffer.

Do not waste your heart, Do not waste your pain.

Let God use it. Your greatest ministry will come out

of your deep this pain. Your greatest ministry will come

out of your greatest weakness and failing. If you'll be

honest to God, honest to others, and honest to yourself,

it will become your ministry. So I use pain in

my life to draw close to God in worship. I

use pain in my life to draw close to others

in fellowship. When I share my strengths, that doesn't make

us feel close. But when I share my weakness as

you go, oh, it draws us close. Rick has problems

that if God uses in then maybe God.

Could use me.

When you share your pain, it helps you grow in Christ.

And when you use your pain to minister to others

who've gone through the same thing, are going through what

you've already gone through, that's called your ministry.

Number five.

God wants you to use pain to witness to the world.

God wants you to use pain to witness to the world.

You see God, God says that our witness comes out

of our weaknesses, not out of our strengths.

You see, we've got it all backwards.

We think the world is impressed by how we enjoy prosperity.

That don't impress the world.

They see that all around non Christians have that what

actually impresses them is not how we handle prosperity, but

what impresses non believers is how believers handle adversity, not prosperity.

We think our successes give us credibility, but actually it

is our suffering that gives us credibility.

We think that fame earns.

Respect, but actually it's faithfulness in tough times that earns respect.

Paul was a pro at this. He was a pro

at using this pain as a witness. He said, I'm

not just going to use it to grow close to

God and to minister to other people. I'm going to

use it as a witness. In Philippians, chapter one, verse twelve,

Paul writes this, I want you to know, dear brothers

and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here

And where is he when he's writing. He's in a

dungeon in Rome, in prison, chained to a prison guard.

I want you to know, deer brothers and sisters, that

everything that has happened to me here has helped to

spread the good news. Paul says, I actually use my

pain to model the message that God has given me.

Model my message.

See, if Paul had not been chained up in prison,

he wouldn't have written all of those letters that became

the New Testament. He would have been out moving around

from town to town, going around. God allowed him in

that prison so he could write all these prison letters,

which we now read as the New Testament. Paul says

in two Corinthian sixty four, in everything we do, we

try to show that we're the true servants of God.

That means even in how we handle pain, how we

handle failure, how we handle defeat, how we handle problems,

how we handle our own mistakes, how we handle sin,

how we handle all of the bad things that happen

in our lives. Anybody can handle good. Doesn't take God's

power to handle good. It takes God's power to patiently endure.

And Paul says, in everything we do, we try to

show we're true servants of God. We patiently endure suffering

and hardship and trouble of every kind. Why because it

is a witness Just like your deepest ministry will come

out of your deepest hurt, your deepest life message will

come out of your deepest pain. This is real, authentic witnessing.

Now I want you to listen very carefully. Every area

in your life where you've had pain. Never thought about this,

but it's true. Every area in your life where you've

had pain, you have a testimony. Don't waste your pain.

Don't waste your hurt. There are people all around you

who are going now through what you've already gone through,

and they will listen to your story. You know, the

greatest witness of God's love, the greatest example, the greatest

demonstration of God's love, was not Jesus's perfect life. The

greatest witness of God's love was not Jesus's sermons. The

greatest witness of God's love were not the miracles of Jesus.

The greatest witness of God's love was the suffering that

Jesus went through on the cross. The same is true

with you. Let me pray for you, Heavenly Father. I

want to thank you that no matter what we go through,

it may be difficult, but we don't have to be

devastated by it, because you have said, we know that

in all things God works together for the good of

those who love God, who are called according to this purpose.

You have these five purposes for our lives. May we

grow in Your plan and purpose for our lives, even

in the bad times, even in the painful times. Now

you pray, say, God, help me to use my pain

to draw closer to You. Help me to use my

pain to learn to trust you more, to depend on

you more, to not run from you, but to run

to you when I am in pain, and when I'm hurting,

to cry out and ask for your help. And then say, Lord,

help me to be honest enough to use my pain

to build relationships, to develop closer connection, to build a

fellowship with other people, To not try to impress people

with my strengths, but to be honest about my weaknesses

and pains and hurts and fears and failures and fumbles

and flaws, and that realizing we draw closer in humility,

not in bragging.

Help me to use the pain in my life to.

Draw closer to other people who may be going through

that same pain. Then pray, Lord, help me to become

more like Jesus. I want to grow in character. I

want to grow in love and joy and peace and patience.

And I know that you use even pain in my

life to build character, to build virtue.

To make me a little more like Jesus.

Do that in my life, Lord, And then pray Lord,

help me to use the pain in my life help

others who are in pain, and whatever I've gone through,

use it to serve others, to take the things that

I've been most afraid of or ashamed of, or running from,

and realizing that you want to actually use that that

they're all a lot of other people going through the

exact same thing in our world today. Help me to

use to use what I've gone through for your glory.

And may my great ministry, greatest ministry come out of

my deepest hurts. And finally, Lord, I want to be

a witness with my weakness. I want to be a

witness with the pain, and help me to look for

ways to find people who are going through things that

I've gone through, and then to step up alongside them

and invite them to know You, to share your love

with them. I want to be a witness, not out

of my successes that I want to be a witness

out of the pain that I've had in my life.

I commit all of this to you, Lord. I know

I can handle pain if I can see the purpose

in it, and I know that there will be great

rewards in heaven. Father, I thank you for these who've

prayed this prayer. And if there's somebody here who listening

to me who has not opened their life that Jesus Christ, yet,

may they right now say Jesus Christ, come into my life.

Just say that, Jesus Christ, come into my life and

replace the painful parts in my heart with your comfort

and your care and your courage. I want to follow

you from this day forward. Jesus, I humbly ask you

to accept me into your family.

In your name, I pray Amen.