God can and does allow pain in our lives to lead us in the right direction, and to get us off our destructive, dead-end paths. He will do all he can to ensure that we have our priorities right. Praise him for that. It is only when he stops trying to get our attention that we are in a really bad way.

OK, my title can go in all sorts of directions, and in a moment I will discuss some spiritual truths about pain. But my title may cause some to think of something similar. Back in 1973 Ann Peebles released the song, “I Can’t Stand the Rain” (popularised by others, including Tina Turner in 1984). So I am piggybacking on that to discuss something everyone can relate to: pain.

I do not like pain. No one likes it – except perhaps for a few weird masochists. So we do all we can to avoid pain. Generally speaking, this is quite a sensible course to take. If you are walking along an asphalt road barefoot in the middle of summer, it can cause real pain. The obvious thing to do is find a shady spot or put some footwear on.

Avoiding pain or what might cause pain is normally the proper way to proceed. But not always. Sometimes pain serves a useful purpose. Sometimes pain is trying to get our attention. The obvious example which many of you can relate to is a toothache.

If you are like me, you avoid dentists like the plague. I have had some bad experiences with them over the years, going back to my childhood. So I am often willing to put up with pain in my mouth rather than go to the dreaded dentist.

But sure enough, after a while the pain becomes too great, and I have to cave in and visit a dentist. Perhaps you might have guessed the occasion for this article. Yep, I am just back from the dentist. After dealing with pain for quite a while, I finally had to bite the bullet, knowing that my current pain would outweigh any pain the dentist might inflict on me!

OK, so call me a coward and a num num. I confess. But as I say, lots of bad experiences in the past have been part of the reason why I am so dentist averse. But it was getting so bad that when pain medicines did not work very well, I was actually swishing around as mouthwash some red wine to help relieve the pain. Yes I am a ninny – I admit that.

Mind you, when I mentioned this to the dentist today, she laughed and said whisky or cognac would have been better in this regard! But she of course did not prefer that course of action, but recommended that regular visits to the dentist take place instead, to avoid such painful situations arising in the first place.

So long story short, I am now on antibiotics, and in a week I will return to start some much-needed dental treatments. Pulling a molar may be the best option for the worst-case tooth. I write all this because I suspect far too many of you can relate to my experience (something my dentist agreed with), and because this piece really is just another vehicle to pen a Christian devotional.

Spiritual Lessons

The whole purpose of this article of course is not to dwell on my own dental care and the like, but to highlight some important spiritual realities. In the spiritual realm, just like the physical, pain is often an important element in getting us to stop doing certain harmful things, and start doing certain helpful things.

Let’s look at the issue of leprosy, or Hansen’s Disease. This is a bacterial infection of the skin and nerves, and it can cause a deadness to feelings – to pain. Some might think: ‘That’s great, I could become invincible – a superhero – in such a state’.

But not so fast. It was learned that the reason why lepers had so many deformities was exactly because of this pain insensitivity. A person could be asleep – say, in India – and wake up in the morning with part of his hands or feet missing. Why? Because if there is no feeling, then rats could gnaw away at the extremities and the person would not even know it was taking place.

One way to nicely tie in this medical condition with spiritual truths is by referring to someone who has done just that. Dr Paul Brand (1914-2003), was born in India to missionary parents, and among other things, worked with lepers. His ground-breaking work into this very matter helped to make him a world-renowned and respected surgeon.

His story was told in the 1965 biography Ten Fingers for God by Dorothy Clarke Wilson. As a Christian, he could see the obvious parallels here with spiritual realities. He penned a number of books over the years, including the important 1993 volume co-authored with Philip Yancey, Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants (Harper Collins – republished by Zondervan in 1997 as The Gift of Pain).

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