where is God when it hurts - part two

I have found Where is God When It Hurts to be a very insightful and personal book concerning the issues of pain and suffering in today's world. Yancey uses a ton of real-life experiences to communicate people's different responses to pain and he incorporates what the Bible has to say about pain and suffering. At the outset, Yancey confesses that he does not address this issue philosophically as many have done in the past - rather he tries to keep pain very personal. He acknowledges that the large questions such as - "how did evil enter the world?" and "why is suffering dispensed inequitably?" are not addressed in this book.

Yancey begins his treatment of pain by looking at pain physiologically - that is, how and why does the human person experience pain from a physiologic perspective. In other words, medically speaking - what's going on inside of us? And what does our body's response say about pain?

Pain - "The Gift that Nobody Wants"
The human body is complex - so complex that the nervous system [which produces pain] cannot be replicated in laboratories - though this has been tried. Physiologically speaking - pain is the body's warning system. It also serves as a protection system. But as we all know and have experienced - pain is well...painful. We don't like to feel pain because it hurts and causes us discomfort. So why do our bodies need pain? Does pain have to be unpleasant? Here's what Yancey wonders, "A protective system is, of course, necessary, but must it hurt? What about when a piercing shot of pain races to the brain, doubling up a patient - couldn't God have found another way of alerting us?" (28).

Extensive laboratory research led by Dr. Paul Brand using audible signals coming through hearing aids and visual lights has shown that patients would tolerate loud noises if s/he wanted to do something such as turning a screwdriver too hard, even though the warning signals told them it would be harmful. Finally Brand resorted to electric shock - people had to be forced to remove their hands - being alerted to danger was insufficient (28). The stimulus for these patients had to be unpleasant.

Here's what Dr. Brand sincerely says, "Thank God for pain!"

Yancey continues, "Unless the warning signal demands response, we might not heed it...for the majority of us, the pain network performs daily protective service...pain then is not God's great goof. It is a gift - the gift that nobody wants. Without it, our lives would be open to abuse and horrible decay" (29).

I would add that pain is the gift that we all have received - well, most of us - as we shall see very soon - not all of us are born with a properly functioning nervous system which warns and protects us. Pain demands attention, says Yancey, and it reminds me that the next time I turn my ankle or wake up with stiff neck that I need to be cautious so as to not wipe out the pain with ibuprofen or other pain relieving pills - just because I'm uncomfortable - because in doing so I might make my injury worse by ignoring the pain.

Stay tuned...