Worship through Suffering | Jeff Lynch
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too (2 Corinthians 1:3–5, ESV).
A life turned upside down
On July 11, 2002, my life changed dramatically. A horrible motocross accident left me paralyzed from the chest down. My T5 and T6 vertebrae were crushed and my spinal cord completely severed. God was present even in the deep depths of despair that followed hard after the accident. He spared my arms and hands so I could still play guitar. This was Shelly's first prayer when she heard of the incident.
The loss of mobility and self-sufficiency was replaced with excruciating pain and dependence. My life would now be experienced from a wheelchair.
It is humbling from a physical perspective, but liberating from a spiritual perspective.
Before the accident I was fearless and did many dangerous things that could have easily resulted in the same paraplegia. But now, the worst thing that happens is falling out of my chair instead of out of the air!
It is humbling to depend on people, but I found that people are willing to help if asked. Asking is the difficult part for me because of my pride. C.S. Lewis wrote “Pride, on the other hand, is the mother of all sins …” (The Problem of Pain).
The pain around my injury (9 on a scale of 10) was constant. Doctors prescribed pain medicine, which helped in the short term but had a sting in the long term. After fifteen years of taking an ever-increasing dosage of oxycontin, I became dependent and addicted. I became a paraplegic addicted to prescription drugs.
Starting all over again
I ended up going to Millcreek Community Hospital for detoxification. Withdrawal is the sting. It really is as bad as you have heard.
After a week of detox, there were two weeks of physical and occupational rehab. I could not write my name legibly and could barely feed myself. Additionally, this was the first time I’d ever experienced the raw pain of my injury without any painkillers other than Tylenol.
It would be an understatement to say I hurt or ached. I was in excruciating pain and once again despairing of life. The pain never ended, day or night. This lasted for three weeks before my primary care follow-up appointment.
But one night two days before my doctor visit, I woke up with zero pain. My wife, Shelly, helps to turn me over in the middle of the night, and when she sat me up that night, I didn’t groan or scream in pain, as was typical. My pain was literally gone! I was all-in believing a healing miracle had occurred.
But when I lay back down, I felt the small muscle fibers in my diaphragm area twitch as they were fired by my nerves. The fibers then cramped and would not let go, much like a charley horse that involved my entire trunk.
One by one, the muscles in my diaphragm cramped until within a half hour, my raw pain was back.
The good news that came from my pain
I related this incident to my doctor, and thankfully, God gave him insight to see what was going on. He prescribed a medicine to combat the nerve spasms, not just to dull pain. The first dose reduced my pain by at least 75 percent!
My trunk and back muscle cramping was greatly reduced. What a difference a day made. I returned to work the following week, and I am able to function now with the pain that remains.
… he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you . . . In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:3b–4, 6–7, ESV, emphasis mine).
My faith was tested. Shelly's faith was tested. But God is faithful, and leaving him was never an option. Genuine faith perseveres through trials.
If our lives are like a vapor compared to eternity, how much shorter are our trials?
In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (emphasis mine).
I think people experience depression due to chronic pain because they cannot conceive of it ever ending. But the Bible tells us to expect Jesus to return for his children at any moment. In that moment, in the twinkling of an eye (which is the speed of light), I will be changed from this lowly body of death into a resurrection body like Jesus has. This is the “blessed hope” of the church.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11–13, ESV, emphasis mine).
Motivational speaker Daniel Ritchie, who was born with no arms, wrote in a blog post (“God Shouts to Us in Our Pain”), “I am thankful for my pain. All of the frustration that has come with it has reaped a bounty that I never could have produced on my own. God stepped in and carried me along in my weakness, letting me taste his strength, grace, and love in new ways.”
God delights in turning broken people into trophies of his great power, mercy and grace,
“so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7, ESV).
God comforts us in our afflictions so we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction
I used to think I could only bring comfort to people with spinal cord injuries like my own. I felt worthless because I didn’t know any SCI people. But this passage uses the word “any.” That is significant because it means God's reach through me is not limited to those who share my particular injury.
Our perseverance in trials and suffering glorifies God, and leaves people wondering if they could also deal with such trials in their lives. We magnify God when we tell them who made the difference, and who it is that also loves them.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:9–10, ESV, emphasis mine).
—Jeff Lynch