Pain is a part of life, but it truly sucks! I hate it. I hate what it does to others. I hate that pain separates us from God & others. I hate that pain causes us to sin against God, others, & our own body. I know pain is also an essential part of life. We live in a fallen world. Therefore, we have to experience pain. If we lived in a fallen world without pain then we would never stop doing the things that hurt God, us & others. If pain didn’t exist we would not have protection against the things that could harm us daily. Think about a child who doesn’t know that the stove is hot. How would that child learn to stay away from the stove if there was no pain in the hot eye of the stove. The parent teaches the child not to touch the stove because it’s hot. The child doesn’t listen to the parent. The child touches the stove. The child gets burned. It hurts & leaves a burn mark. This teaches the child not to touch the stove again because it causes pain. The hope is that the child will learn from the first experience, but far too often it takes more than one painful experience for the child to grasp the lesson.

It’s no different with us who are children of God. He instructs us with His word & teaches us right from wrong. He guides us with His truth. We learn by reading & applying His word to our daily lives. But if we don’t read & apply His truth then we end up experiencing pain in our life at some point. Many of us (me included) experience unnecessary pain over & over again because we would not listen & apply His truth to our life. His commandments are for our ultimate protection & will go well with us IF we listen to Him.

We all want wisdom at some point in our life. But do we do what it takes to get it? Wisdom comes from God. In order to get wisdom we must seek God. How? By reading His word daily & renewing our mind. The first step in gaining wisdom is putting God first in our life. Then we must fear Him. At first, fearing God sounded a little weird & opposite to what I think of His character, but it’s the first step in gaining His wisdom. I have learned that when I fear God instead of a person or circumstance that I am showing Him respect, honor, obedience, & trust. I am saying You are God & I am not. I will submit to Your ways & trust that Your way is the best way. For example, if I am fearing what someone thinks of me by not standing firm in my convictions of gossiping then I feared that person’s opinion more than I feared what God says about the sin of gossip. Proverbs 29:25 (NIV) says, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare (trap/evil), but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe”. Fearing others leads me into a trap that leads to sin. Fear of God leads me into obedience & trust which keep me safe. I can fear God by standing firm in my conviction of not gossiping which honors God. Or I can participate in the sin of gossiping which hurts God, others, & myself. Leaving me with feelings of guilt & shame which produce more pain in my life. Fear of God is for our protection. It leads us away from sin & pain.

As I stated previously I hate pain, but without it I would choose sin over & over again. Therefore, I am grateful God gave us pain as a consequence of sin in order to protect us from committing the same sin over & over again. Wisdom is gained when we fear God, listen to Him, apply His truth daily, & learn from painful experiences; it is for our ultimate protection.