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The Blessings of Pain

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support for Sandi and for me through this trial we have just endured. Your prayers and your e-mails have meant more to us than I can express to you. I have tried to respond to every single e-mail I received, so if I have overlooked your e-mail, please forgive me and accept, at this time, my words of sincere gratitude for every compassionate and supportive e-mail and every sweet smelling prayer that has "ascended up before God" on our behalf.

I am very grateful to Jim and Tanya for coming to the hospital and staying there with Sandi and me through the entire ordeal. What a blessing it was to see them that morning, and the next day Lexy, Garrett and Brody with them. Just being there meant a lot to me! Thank you, Jim and Tanya and all the kids.

Sandi and I had a wonderful visit with my brother Lonnie and his wife Sandy. Lonnie has been a champion of our beliefs from the beginning. I am grateful to them both for coming to the hospital.

It was a great blessing also to see my son Dallas and Susie, his wife, and all four of their children, my grandchildren.

I want to thank John McDowell for coming to the hospital and helping me to make contact with all of you over the internet. Thank you so much, John!

I also want to thank Dennis Crabtree for being so quick to step into the vacancy that was created that weekend. I knew Dennis was ahead a few studies and could feed the Lord's flock that Sunday more easily than others who do not have a backlog of studies. Dennis volunteered, and I am just so very grateful. Thank  you so much, Dennis!

This is how the scriptures portray how the Lord receives your prayers for Sandi and me and for yourselves and for each other:

Rev 8:3  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rev 8:4  And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

My severe trial, just like all of your trials, was not a happenstance event, because there is nothing that happens outside the parameters of these verses:

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The Lord created some severe 'evil' in my life July the 31st and August 1st, and for several days thereafter.

1) Our pain should make us introspective

I tell all of you, and I  have been doing so for many years now, when you are given a trial, any trial, you should ask yourself what the Lord is saying to you. Believe me I was trying to figure what the Lord was telling me in the midst of my misery. I actually prayed, 'Lord, I'll do anything, just give me some relief." That is what any of us should do. We should all be introspective and seek to see what the Lord is telling us through our pain.

2) We should realize that our pain is not just for us alone. Our pain makes the work of God manifested to His body, and in time, to the world

But don't be a "miserable comforter" to your brother who is in pain and wag your finger at a brother enduring a trial or an affliction, because all of our afflictions are given to us to benefit more than just the person being afflicted, as we learned when we went through the book of Job, and as we learn also in the story of the healing of the man who was born blind:

Joh 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

"...But that the works of God should be made manifest in him" is just as true for all of our afflictions as it is for the affliction of this blind man, who actually typifies the spiritual condition into which we are all born:

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

So "the works of God [must] be made manifest" in every one of us, just as they had to be "made manifest" in that blind man:

1Jn 1:2  (For the life was manifested [Greek: aorist tense], and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested [Greek: aorist tense] unto us;)

Do you understand what we are being told here? This is just how spiritually blind we all are:

Joh 14:4  And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Joh 14:5  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Neither Thomas nor Phillip could see or hear Christ at this time. They both say so. These words are Christ speaking of those things that be not as though they were:

Joh 14:7  If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

And that is the meaning of:

1Jn 1:2  (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

If Christ is living His life within us, then we, too, are showing that eternal life which was with the Father and is being manifested unto others. But 'knowing that way [and] seeing the Father' comes only through extremely painful fiery trials which give us spiritual eyesight and spiritual ears and wisdom which are not available to those who do not see either Christ or His Father.

3) Spiritual vision comes only through the pain of seeing just how deceived we have been

Spiritual eyes and spiritual ears are just a couple of the blessings of the fiery pain, which is what the Lord's words are to the spiritual "wood, hay and stubble" substance of the kingdom of our old man:

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

Job actually had his own pain-filled fiery trials, and they were written down and recorded for our admonition.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Now look at the very next verse:

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

It is important to notice the purpose for "the way  to escape" is "that you may be able to bear it". The 'unbearable' pain is borne until the Lord provided "a way to escape" by means of pain killers, surgery or whatever the Lord ordains.

This particular trial has subsided, but I have no illusions about having no more fiery trials in this age. We are all told to expect fiery trials as long as we are in these vessels of clay.

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 10:23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Mat 10:24  The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

4) Pain prepares us for the certainty of being rejected and hated of all men

Our hearts should be prepared by these words and not be shocked or disappointed when the pain of undeserved hatred and rejection is cast upon us. We are warned, "You shall be hated of all men."

Notice what the spirit teaches us we must expect from our families and friends in spiritual Babylon:

Act 14:19  And there came [to Lystra] certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Act 14:20  Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
Act 14:21  And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

"Much tribulation" means 'much pain'. So if you want to avoid pain, then do not seek to follow Christ. We just read what He promises to all who will follow Him.... "You shall be hated of all men..." He does promise to help bear our yoke, but He nowhere even once promises to take away that yoke.

Mat 11:28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

"Easy... light" compared to what?

There is no contradiction between this promise in Matthew 11 and these verses in 1 Peter:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1Pe 4:15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
1Pe 4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

"Partaking of Christ's suffering... being reproached for the name of Christ, [and] suffering as a Christian", are not just a matter of being hated of all men and being evil spoken of in this age. Suffering as a Christian, can and does include both physical and mental pain, "as a Christian". But the fruit, the blessing, of that pain in a true Christian is always the same:

5) Our pain is part of our judgment, and it always 'teaches us righteousness'

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Christ's 'light burden' and His 'easy yoke' are 'light' and 'easy' only in comparison to the lake of fire of the later judgment which the Lord uses to drive and drag mankind to Himself. "Fiery trials" are fiery judgments, and we are blessed to be judged in this age. Without the pain of judgment in any age we have no hope of being delivered from "the body of this death" (Rom 7:25).

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

"The body of this death" is a proud, lofty, puffed up, dying old man who is not aware of being in that sad position.

Isa 2:11  The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten [inflict pain]: be zealous therefore, and repent.

After chastening King David for attempting to hide his adultery with Uriah's wife with his murder of Uriah, this is what the Lord told King David via the prophet Nathan:

6) The pain of His fiery word, is what the Lord uses to keep us humble and ever vigilant

2Sa 12:10  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Surely the words, "...because you have despised me... Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house" is not speaking to or of you and me, is it? You and I have been given dominion over sin in our lives and we have had that dominion for many years. Have we at long last come to the point that we no longer need the Lord's painful, fiery judgments, His fiery words, in our lives?

Well, if it is possible to get to that point in this life, then to whom do those words apply? Do they apply only to someone else's old man, but not to you or me? Do the words "the sword shall never depart from your house" apply only to "carnal... babes in Christ"? Is that what you think? Let me warn you, that is what we all tend to think, but that is not the case, my brothers and my sisters. That 'sword' is the Word of God, and that sword, for a time, had left King David's house. This event took place many years after King David had been ruling. He had already reigned 7 and a half years in Hebron before he even took Jerusalem for his capital. This sad story took place years after King David had begun ruling in Jerusalem, as we learned back in chapters 7 and 8:

2Sa 7:8  Now therefore so shalt thou [the prophet, Nathan] say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel:
2Sa 7:9  And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.
2Sa 7:10  Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,
2Sa 7:11  And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.
2Sa 7:12  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
2Sa 7:13  He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
2Sa 7:14  I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
2Sa 7:15  But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
2Sa 7:16  And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.
2Sa 7:17  According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

We now know that "the tabernacle of David" is to be understood as the New Testament church (Act 15:16), but that certainly was not how King David understood this promise. He took it literally, as many do to this very day, and in the next chapter we are made aware of just how secure David felt in this promise:

2Sa 8:1  And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them: and David took Methegammah out of the hand of the Philistines.
2Sa 8:2  And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive. And so the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.
2Sa 8:3  David smote also Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his border at the river Euphrates.
2Sa 8:4  And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for an hundred chariots.
2Sa 8:5  And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
2Sa 8:6  Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

King David is a type of each of us as kings and priests in Christ. It was as a conquering king that King David became comfortable and lax because of the many victories he had just been given.

2Sa 7:1  And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;
2Sa 7:2  That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.

What we need to know is that King David's sin in the matter of Bathsheba was many years after he had been made king over all Israel. It was after he had conquered all of his enemies and had been "given... rest" that he had failed this most important trial.

So now we see that another of the blessings of pain is that God's fiery, chastening love keeps us humble and always aware of our need for Him! We bring nothing to His table. He needs nothing from us as we are plainly told:

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The first 11 chapters of 2 Samuel relate how the Lord had destroyed the house of King Saul and had given it to King David, just as He does for you and for me when He brings us out of Babylon and gives us an "abundance of revelations". When He does that for us, He also provides the means of keeping us humbled "in His presence".

2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

When we become "exalted" that is another way of saying the sword of the Lord has left our house, and because that fiery, two-edged sword is no longer there, like King David, we become exalted and forget that God sees everything, all the time, and that He has already determined "that no flesh should glory in His presence". I will repeat what we are told about the requirements of all who are being called to be kings and priests:

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

Now you know why the Lord has chosen me to follow Him, and now I know why He chose you. And this is why these humiliating qualities are the very qualifications of the Lord's elect:

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.
1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

I am coming to you today with some very good news for all of us, and that good news is that the sword will never depart from our house. Even after our old man attempts to reassert himself, and after we are granted to see him for just how proud and how self-confident he is, if we are the Lord's elect, then we will be given the means of keeping that old man subdued. It is a tool by which our flesh is constantly disquieted until the day we draw our last breath. That is why it is called "a thorn in the flesh". It can be a physical affliction, but it is still a part of the "words that proceed out of the mouth of God" by which we all must live (Mat 4:4). In that sense, anything the Lord uses to keep us humbled becomes the "sword [of the Lord]" to "never leave [our] house" and to "daily" destroy our corruptible old man. The "sword" which we should all want to have in our spiritual house is His fiery words within us, judging us every day, increasing our new man while simultaneously decreasing our old man, as John the Baptist explained it to us:

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

7) Pain helps us to want to comfort each other and to bear each other's burdens

In Galatians 6 we are instructed:

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Verse 5 gives us the exact opposite instruction, but when we read the context we see clearly why these verse appear to contradict each other, when in reality they are speaking of a matter of proper timing:

Gal 6:1  Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Gal 6:3  For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Gal 6:4  But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
Gal 6:5  For every man shall bear his own burden.

No one can do anything of himself, but:

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

The message of these verses in Galatians 6 is the same as the message given in much greater detail in Romans 14 and 15... receive weaker brothers, but with a view to bringing them to maturity while not permitting "doubtful disputations" about already firmly discerned doctrine:

Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2  For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Rom 15:5  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Rom 15:6  That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Enduring pain makes us realize that we, too, are super weak in our own way, and it vastly increases our love for our less mature brothers and sisters, who are exactly where the Lord would have them to be at this moment.

Christ is who we are as His body, and in that capacity we take each other's pains upon ourselves, and in the same sense Christ also takes the pains of His body upon Himself:

Isa 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Paul tells us what compassion our trials produce within any in whom Christ dwells:

2Co 1:3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2Co 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
2Co 1:6  And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
2Co 1:7  And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
2Co 1:8  For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
2Co 1:11  Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

8) It is through pain that we learn to be patient, as we are being brought to perfection

Pain tries our faith, as all who experience pain know, and this is what our painful trials produce:

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Christ Himself "learned by the things He suffered", and He tells us that He Himself could not be perfected until He had endured His own death and resurrection:

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Christ was acquainted with pain, suffering and grief for the express purpose of being able to identify with His children:

Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

9) Our pain brings us to give God all the glory for all things

In the book of Psalms we are told:

Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:32  Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

We simply do not cry unto the Lord until our troubles and our pain brings us to "[our] wits' end". Then we cry to the Lord... then we are glad because we are delivered. It is our pain which brings us to "exalt Him... in the congregation of the people".

To review:

1) Our painful trials should make us introspective
2) We should realize that our pain is not just for us. Our pain makes the work of God manifested to His body, and in time, to the world,
3) Spiritual vision comes only through the pain of seeing just how deceived we have been,
4) Pain prepares us for the certainty of being rejected and hated of all men,
5) Our pain is part of our judgment and it always 'teaches us righteousness,
6) The pain of His fiery word is what the Lord uses to keep us vigilant. It disquiets us like "a thorn in the flesh".
7) Pain draws the body of Christ to care for its members, and pain helps us to want to bear each other's burdens,
8) It is through pain that we learn to be patient, as we are being brought to perfection and finally,
9) Our pain brings us to give God all the glory for all things.