Evil

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day. Pain, pain, go away, don't come again another day.
As someone who lives with pain, who has seen it in loved ones- both physical and emotional, I'm always reminded of the gift that God gives. Yes, pain is a gift. The reason I say this, is because of a book I came across- I think it was all about pain. It was written by a doctor that specialized in leprosy and his thesis was that without being able to feel pain, the lepers don't know when something is wrong. They can stub their toes or scratch themselves in some benign way and the don't notice it until the smell of infection reminds them that they need to get medical care for their cuts and by then it is usually too late. They lose body parts regularly because their bodies cannot feel pain.

This is quite a shocker for those of us that use pain killers to survive our daily lives. How can something like pain, be good? Could pain be God's will? What a concept.
When I watch the National Geopraphic Channel, I'm reminded of how brutal nature can be. Now some would say that animals don't feel pain or that they were created as meat or God's provision for us. This may be true, but I remember seeing my dog go to the door after I took his cat friend, Emma. The cat was dying so we had to take her to the vet to have her put down. My dog whimpered and whined at the door when I left, and when I returned without her friend. Even before I left, the dog would lie on the floor with Emma as she lay on the floor writhing in pain. The dog seemed to know and was empathizing with the cat. The dog obviously was feeling something. This is not a treatise on the ethical treatment of animals. All I'm saying is the world is not so black and white. Animals do feel something and we are given the command to rule, with God's providence and care.

Of course this means we should care for God's creation, just as we should care for people. If someone is in pain, a natural desire is to alleviate that pain, even if pain is in God's original design. Now some would argue there is pain because the devil rules the world. I'm not sure about this doctrine, only because I remember Jesus talking about destroying the works of the devil and other such scriptures; however if you want to argue for the devil's reign on the earth then count me out. I have no such compunction to justify God or promote the devil.

As far as I'm concerned the subject of pain is fraught with images of children at sick kid's hospitals all over the world, in pain and drugged to keep the pain "manageable." Nobody in their right mind would say that this is God's will or plan. Or how about the tsunamis or hurricanes that devastate cities, or earthquakes that killed 250,000 people in Haiti or the ravages of disease that followed with cholera outbreak. How could any of these things be God's will and how can we pray about these things if they are God's plan any way. When someone is in pain, we have an obligation to do something.

I think the key might be the prayer of Jabez, "that I might not cause pain." This could be a mantra or a theme for any kind of work or prayer or philosophy - that, in all we do, we do not cause pain. If I could live by that everyday, maybe I could make the world a better place.