I'd like to try to talk about pain today but I do want to start with the disclaimer that I have not felt the pain of so many others. While I have experienced pain, I have experienced more joy. With that being said, though, I have had some pain in my life.
I'd like to tell a little dental story that is one of my most painful physical memories. I was having a root canal done, which required the numbing of the nerves of a particular tooth. The dentist kept trying to get started on the procedure, and I kept feeling pain. The dentist told me that I was feeling "pressure" and confusing it with pain. Now, I don't know much but I know the difference between pressure and pain.
After several of these "episodes" in which he told me I was experiencing pressure and I assured him I was feeling pain, he decided he needed a few more x-rays. Following the x-rays, he determined that I was, indeed, experiencing pain, because I had a lateral nerve. For those of you who may not know what a lateral nerve is, allow me to explain. Your teeth's nerves run up and down along the root. A lateral nerve runs side to side from one root to another. I had one of these rare lateral nerves, which was not deadened.
The dentist, upon understanding that I was feeling pain and not just "pressure", informed me that there was only one way to deaden this nerve. And, the nerve would have to be deadened if we were going to finish the procedure. "Well," I said, "Let's deaden it and get the show on the road." I thought to myself, "How bad can it be? Just a little tickle." Boy, was I WRONG!
Do you know how they deaden a lateral nerve? Well, let me explain...the procedure for deadening a lateral nerve is pretty simple. All you have to do is SHOVE the needle filled with Novocaine through the tooth into the lateral nerve. This would have been good information to have prior to the actual deadening taking place. Not that it would have changed anything, but it would have been nice to know.
The dentist, who was absolutely going to numb this nerve, took that needle that must have been about the size of a crocheting needle and, with great force applied, shoved it through my tooth into that dastardly lateral nerve. For about five seconds, it was the most excruciating pain ever felt.
As I levitated off the examination chair, with only my hands supporting my entire body weight, with tears streaming down the side of my face, my eye feeling as if it would explode out of its socket, the dentist calmly said, "It should start easing any moment." I knew if it hadn't eased fairly quickly, I was going to pass out and not feel it anyway.
I tell that story to lead into today's word, which comes from the New Century Version, and is found in Isaiah 66:9 - "...I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born," says the LORD."
I don't know what kind of pain you may be going through today but GOD will not allow the pain without allowing something new to be born. The passage refers to childbirth and the context is GOD telling Israel that there will be pain but He will help them "birth" a new nation. However, the same holds true for any pain you may be feeling. GOD will not allow the pain without something new being born.
I have never experienced the pain of childbirth (Praise the LORD) but I can tell you, looking back, that I can see what GOD delivered through my pain. I am grateful for the blessings GOD has delivered, though it may have been painful getting here.
Yes, there will be some pain but something new will be delivered. In the case of the lateral nerve, I received a root canal. As painful as it was, it was definitely worth it all these years later. GOD will deliver something good from what you are experiencing. It may be much worse than a little tickle but it will be something you never expected. Be careful, though, if you ever hear a dentist say, "Oh, you have a lateral nerve."
Be Blessed,
Mickey T
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