Wreathing in Pain

As if sharp-edged weaponries are piercing my head, it’s painful. And I am wreathing in pain. It’s not just a onetime pain; and it’s been here with me for some years, in a row, now.

My body was about to droop-in slyly, yet I tried enduring the pain. But today I tried to beat the pain. So I get up and headed towards the door. I ran down the stairs of a three-storey building, with my sight dimming as the pain grew.

Several times I hit my head at the turn of each one flight stairs; but I continued down my way almost exhausted. The thought of turning back was nudged down by the mind, which now focuses more on the piercing pain in my head.

As I reached the ground, I gather all the strength left in my body, and began to run amok. Within a few minutes, I fall down as I didn’t last long, yet I rise up again trying to go berserk till I dropped.

In my blurry way I hit something, so I fell down for the last time. I didn’t get up again this time nor do I know the pain goes away completely.

Well, I know something; I did not run amok anyway. It was just a thought caused by the wreathing pain in my head. Instead I try to give rest to my weak body. Not now, not yet; endure the pain, I said to myself. It’d be a selfish act to actually do it.

It’s not an occurrence which is new to me yet the feeling and the pain, I cannot tell you all. And telling all doesn’t cure everything. It’s a privilege yet I don’t know whether you’d be envious, or not. My mind’s racing with thoughts and it needs to be cooled off!

‘Give me some rest. Let me sleep,’ I whispered to my God. It takes some more time before my racing mind stopped. And I fell deep into the wonderful world of sleep beyond the pain. When I woke up the Lord is still with me!

In that way, episodes of life was spent in the hope that these episodes diminished in the long run. It really diminishes a lot. When life’s normal, it’s a great joy to play around with my children; spending time with loved ones and friends.

The Crushed Body:

Condemned by the righteous, as the time had come, he was given in the hands of sinner where his sufferings began. The more they beat him, injured him, wounded him, striped him; his purpose of delivering becomes nearer.

They inflicted him with pain, as they thought they can crush his mission. And Lo! They simply crushed his already dilapidated body. They never know he was suffering the pain for them. His body was crushed and consumed before the wide eyes of mankind. Yet Jesus Christ was determined so that I may not be crushed by my sin any longer.

The body was wreathing in pain; he could hardly carry his burden, the physical cross, but still they thrashed his body. The crushed body was as good as the consumed body, just as the consumed body of the sacrificial lambs.
That, no more sacrifice would be needed on their behalf as he bore it all.

He (Jesus Christ) was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities. His whole earthly body was crushed so that a new lease of body, free from any kind of suffering and pain, stemmed up. And his wounded stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) The sins should have crushed us instead crushed him, which comes only by suffering. This is the glory of his grace!

Inward Groaning:

There are times, it seems, the nerves in my face forgot how to smile. When we have something going on inside our body, it shows out in our appearance.

I love hearing jokes from my very young children and they are eager to tell me. In the end, of course, I have to laugh out loud or at least smile for them. But somehow it doesn’t please them, so they’d pull my cheeks to make a ‘smiley face’.

Pain and suffering can steal our happiness for a while, as it caged our mind. It is no respecter of a person in this way. Paul said, “We ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:23)

Redemption’s on the way, Paul knew it right. Thus he did not lose hope nor does he complain, he groaned inwardly. He did so, lest it may paint fainting hope, to other perspectives.

“It is finished”, Jesus Christ had declared on the Cross. It is just a matter of time before the final redemption as the finished thing of the past won’t be able to inflict pain beyond the unendurable limit. The head was crushed yet the tail keeps moving.

Racing Ahead With Pain:

We’re still in a racing track of life and we’re on a running mode since our very inception. Some of us got injured in our racing track yet trying to keep up with the demands of life. I don’t know your kind of pain, yet we do have pains to bear in each of us.

There are people who are not willing to run; yet they are still pulled along. Lots of people, willingly or unwillingly, called it a day and exited on their own. Some have failed engine but are running the race till their very last breath.

None can race backward, as we have goal, so we run as much as we can. Now as we become a new creation in the blood of Christ, our race becomes more worthy and rewarding. One must give our best and run till we drop; not getting lost in the runways.

Enriched by Grace:

It is not of a physical racing but more of spiritual racing. Further, it involves emotion and devotion, which can heighten our strength, at the same time deteriorate our faith. Despite all the issues of life, our Savior was the first to run successfully, showing the way for us.

John Bunyan, Joni Eareckson Tada, Mark Talbot, and the likes, just to name a few, have their share of pain yet they are immeasurably enriched in God of strength, by deeply relying on him, as they run the racing track. Apostle Paul runs the race with thorn in his body yet he finished; who further encouraged us as: “I have fight the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7)

We may be wreathing in pain today; but with the hope of redemption of our body, we’d run and finished the race, as has been done my many, in the abiding grace of God.