What does the Bible say about dealing with chronic pain?

Of course, believers often have requests that are not (or not yet) heard because God has a different plan for us. So it was even with Paul, who pleaded three times with the Lord to deliver him from the "thorn for the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7, 8). The thorn was not taken away from him; he received grace in return, which enabled him to endure this pain and the limitations that came with it and to continue his ministry in the power of God.

We should have said rather that the devil was permitted to deal him heavy blows, for all that happened was beneath the hand of God. It was with Paul as it had been long before with Job: three causes are discernible. The third causes were fire from heaven, whirlwind, evil men, in the case of Job, and the thorn in the flesh in the case of Paul. Behind these in each case lay the power and animus of Satan; but behind him as the first cause there was the hand of God. Job's safety and blessing lay in his turning away from the third causes, and even from the second cause, that he might accept all from the hand of God; and so too it was with Paul.

Very naturally Paul betook himself to prayer. It was intense prayer: he not only requested but besought. It was repeated, for he besought the Lord thrice. Yet for all that his desire was not granted. Instead of having the thorn removed he received the assurance of abundant grace; such grace that the thorn would become an asset rather than a liability, a means of blessing rather than a hindrance. The Lord answered his prayer, but not according to his thought. He gave him rather that which was better. The grace bestowed more than counterbalanced the thorn.

Though thrice he prayed for its removal it still remained, but it became the occasion for a fresh assurance of an abundant supply of inward grace in those immortal words, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness." It is not only grace, but MY grace, not only strength, but MY strength. The immensity of the grace and. the strength can only be measured by the divine and eternal fulness of the One whose grace and strength it is. In the presence of this greatness how small was Paul, who was indicated by the "thee," — and we are even smaller than Paul. There is an infinitude of grace and strength with our Lord. It carried Paul to the finish, and enabled him to triumph with martyrdom just before him, as we see in 1 Timothy 4:6-8.

Your case is painfully interesting. We are persuaded that if there be simple faith in waiting upon God, He will heal and restore. He is the Hearer and Answerer of prayer. We recommend you to retire from all creature confidences and cast yourself simply upon the Living God. You have been looking to human cisterns. We also judge you have been over-anxious to get well. Seek grace to lie passive in your Father's hands and know no will but His. When once your heart can say, “Thy will be done,” the great moral end of the discipline is reached. We pray that you may reap a rich harvest of blessing from all the painful exercise through which you are now passing. May God comfort you, dear friend.

We should be with God about our sickness, and after bowing under His mighty hand, we may rest assured that He will raise us up. This is not at all a question of so-called faith cure. There is often more pride in what is called that than in the humble employment of proper means for recovery. God may, and doubtless often does, heal in answer to prayer, and without the use of medicines, just as He often blesses the instrumentalities used. But the point of importance is that recovery is not the first object. What would God have us learn in our sickness? Has there been disobedience for which we are feeling His chastening hand? Or, if there has been no direct act of disobedience, has there been a low, carnal, worldly state, worse than actual outbreaking evil? How foolish to expect or want recovery to bodily health before the soul is healed.

So that along with prayerful use of means, or whatever one is led to do for recovery, there should be the ardent, constant prayer, "Search me O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

(Vv. 14, 15). The Apostle has spoken of the wrongs we may suffer at the hands of others. He now speaks of another form of affliction — the dealings of the Lord. Apart from what others may do in malice to wrong us, the Lord may deal with us in love for our blessing. Thus sickness may come upon us. This sickness may be from ills common to these mortal bodies, or it may be the direct chastisement of the Lord; but in either case our resource is prayer. We are not to view the sickness as a matter of accident, but to see the Lord's hand in it; and turning to the Lord in faith, we shall find that He is ready to listen to and answer the prayer of faith. If sins have been committed, they shall be forgiven. Here, the fact of prayer and seeking the prayers of others expresses the submission of the soul to that which God has allowed, instead of giving way to complaints and murmurings that would be the expression of a heart in rebellion.

Notice further that in the Epistles various cases of sickness or infirmity amongst believers are mentioned: — amongst the Corinthians — the very people with whom the gifts of healing were found (1 Cor. 11:30); with Paul himself (2 Cor. 12:7-9; Gal. 4:13), with Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25-30); with Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23); with Trophimus (2 Tim. 4:20); amongst the scattered Jewish believers generally (James 5:14-16); with Gaius (3 John 2); yet only in James is there any word as to a way of healing, namely prayer and confession. If sick we are to pray for one another with confession, and if the elders of the church can pray in faith for the sufferer, having anointed him with oil, he shall be healed. It is the faith of those who pray that is in question not the faith of the sick person.

In James 5 we read, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” The “if” shows that the sickness might not have been sent on account of any particular sin.

Now there were resources in Christianity both for joy and sorrow. If any were afflicted, let them pray (God was ready to hear); if happy, let them sing; if sick, send for the elders of the assembly, who would pray for the sufferer and anoint him, and the chastisement would be removed, and the sins for which, according to God's government, he was thus chastised, would be forgiven as regards that government; for it is that only which is here spoken of.

The imputation of sin for condemnation has no place here. The efficacy of the prayer of faith is set before us; but it is in connection with the maintenance of sincerity of heart. The government of God is exercised with regard to His people. He chastises them by sickness; and it is important that truth in the inner man should be maintained. Men hide their faults; they desire to walk as if all were going on well; but God judges His people. He tries the heart and the reins. They are held in bonds of affliction. God shows them their faults, or their unbroken self-will. Man "is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain," Job 33:19. And now the church of God intervenes in charity, and according to its own order, by means of the elders; the sick man commits himself to God, confessing his state of need; the charity of the church acts and brings him who is chastised, according to this relationship, before God — for that is where the church is. Faith pleads this relationship of grace; the sick man is healed. If sins — and not merely the need of discipline — were the cause of his chastisement, those sins will not hinder his being healed, they shall be forgiven him.

I do not want, however, to dismiss the subject without adding a word as to what remains for us in these days. For this, we must first of all distinguish between cases which Mr. S. necessarily mixes up in confusion. Elihu, in the book of Job, shows us the chastening of a soul under God's hand, for which his flesh is consumed until he dies, or else humbles himself and confesses his sin and finds mercy. The apostle speaks in this way of a sin unto death, for which he does not say that any one should pray. In James, this case of chastening is supposed, though not exclusively. Here, the remedy is clearly not in doctors, and it is of the very greatest importance to remember it. Here still the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and "confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed" abides ever as the resource. The prayer of faith surely remains to