by Dr. Paul Chappell

"Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever."

Psalm 11:1-3

Even in pain, we can praise the Lord.

In her biography of Dr. Paul Brand, Dorothy Wilson tells the story of one night in Brand's life when his fear nearly became reality:

Dr. Paul W. Brand, the noted leprosy expert who was chief of the rehabilitation branch of the Leprosarium in Carville, Lousiana, had a frightening experience one night when he thought he had contracted leprosy. Dr. Brand arrived in London one night after an exhausting transatlantic ocean trip and long train ride from the English coast. He was getting ready for bed, had taken off his shoes, and as he pulled off a sock, discovered there was no feeling in his heel. To most anyone else this discovery would have meant very little, a momentary numbness. But Dr. Brand was world famous for his restorative surgery on lepers in India. He had convinced himself and his staff at the leprosarium that there was no danger of infection from leprosy after it reached a certain stage. The numbness in his heel terrified him.

He rose mechanically, found a pin, sat down again, and pricked the small area below his ankle. He felt no pain. He thrust the pin deeper, until a speck of blood showed. Still he felt nothing...He supposed, like other workers with leprosy, he had always half expected it...In the beginning probably not a day had gone by without the automatic searching of his body for the telltale patch, the numbed area of skin. All that night the great orthopedic surgeon tried to imagine his new life as a leper, an outcast, his medical staff's confidence in their immunity shattered by his disaster. And the forced separation from his family. As night receded, he yielded to hope and in the morning, with clinical objectivity, with steady fingers he bared the skin below his ankle, jabbed in the point-and yelled. Blessed was the sensation of pain! He realized that during the long train ride, sitting immobile, he had numbed a nerve. From then on, whenever Dr. Brand cut his finger, turned an ankle, even when he suffered from "agonizing nausea as his whole body reacted in violent self-protection from mushroom poisoning, he was to respond with fervent gratitude, "Thank God for pain!"

Dr. Brand learned that even something as discomforting as pain had a purpose. As human beings, we desire to be as comfortable as we can. If the temperature outside is too extreme, we complain. If we have to wait longer than expected, we complain. If our plans are suddenly changed, we complain. We want things to go according to our plans so we can be comfortable.

Yet God doesn't promise comfort to His children. He never promises a life that will be perfectly mapped out, free of potholes, detours, and accidents. He even tells us we will experience pain. But the pain and discomfort we feel shouldn't affect our praise.

David is usually regarded as being greatly blessed (and he was), yet he also faced much pain in his life. Most his children turned away from God, he fell into sin and his child was killed because of it, and he wasn't allowed to build God's temple. Yet through all his pain, David could say, "I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever."

We're all facing some sort of pain or trial right now. Others may not know about your pain, but it's very real in your life. How are you responding to your pain? Are you complaining about the discomfort God has put you through or are you rejoicing in the pain, knowing that God has a greater purpose?

To learn more about the ministries of Lancaster Baptist Church and Pastor Chappell, please visit lancasterbaptist.org, paulchappell.com, or follow him on twitter.

Daily Bible Reading
Psalms 68-29 | Romans 8:1-21