Fainting Or Gaining From Pain
British Admiral Rodney’s non pursuit of French Admiral de Grasse after de Grasse left the West Indies was partly because he had fewer ships than de Grasse, somewhat because he thought he needed to be able to defend the islands, but mostly because he was in a lot of physical pain from various ailments. These kept him from responding aggressively as he would normally have done. The result? His non-pursuit contributed to Cornwallis’ defeat at Yorktown with the resulting victory of American freedom from Britain (Tuchman, First Salute, p 236).
Pain can keep us from doing what we need to do, as was the case with Rodney. Yet, “we cannot learn without pain” (Aristotle). Even Jesus Christ “learned obedience by what He suffered” (Heb 5:8). Indeed, we will have a very distorted picture of reality without pain for “he has seen but half the universe who never has been shown the house of pain” (Emerson). We can easily forget that others feel pain if we do not have familiarity with it (cf. 2 Cor 1:4). Thus, our ability to have compassion is diminished (Mt 5:7).
In addition, we cannot have courage without pain. Not having anything to overcome may be comfortable but it does not require us to be brave – and the Spirit that the Lord has given us is a Spirit of courage (2 Tim 1:7). God is a conqueror (Zeph 3:17) and wants us, too, to overcome evil (Rev 2:7; 12:11). Pain sometimes serves as God’s bullhorn. It can be used to correct us or to glorify Him when He intervenes. It is rarely desired, but as Ben Franklin pithily summed it up – “No gains without pains.”
Comforting others is costly but worth it.