The pain that galls you and gives you distress, can you not see it as a cure? For just as a word of hell spoken is bitter to the ear but braces up our souls and makes us more reverent, so a pain that pierces the body might be permitted to pierce your heart with the fear of God. Nothing is more delightful than a discourse that keeps us from falling into a reality far more bitter.
The true rest you seek is where pain and sorrow and sighing are fled away, where there is no sickness, no death of the body. But that country is not reached by commanding the body to be free as if it were an enemy that does not deserve to inflict pain. For we are called to a battle-array, yet fear not at hearing of arms. These arms are of Light, placing you in security and making you brighter than the sunbeam. The fight is not a war of distress but a solemn dance when you wear them. The day is at hand, even now beside us.
Think of Thomas, who heard the truth yet believed only partly because the thing was very strange. He doubted, yet the Lord appeared to instruct him and inflame a more eager desire. So perhaps this infirmity is allowed to remain for a season so that, by the continual instruction of His word, your faith might become more ready and more grounded. I say nothing burdensome; I do not say withdraw from your life, but being engaged in it, show virtue. The weaker your leg feels, the more brightly the candle of your patience and trust can shine from the candlestick of your body for all to see.
When you cry out that the pain does not deserve to remain, take heed lest you dishonor God by not manifesting a life agreeable to the faith. He would have the Christian be the teacher of the world, its salt, its light. If salt loses its savor in the heat of trial, it is no longer salt. Let there be nothing foolish or silly in your prayer, as if God must obey your command because you speak a Name. The virgins were called foolish because they were busy about worldly matters, gathering things of the body, but not laying up treasure where they ought. There is nothing more shameful than the foul odor of a soul that demands its own will; the Prophet cried out, "My wounds stink and are corrupt." Consider this pain when you are calm, and see what it teaches you.
That they gnashed their teeth on Stephen and stopped their ears, and yet his face shone like an angel's, is a wonder. He who had a clear conscience was none the worse for it; the wrong-doers were the ones in trouble, cut to the heart. So you, having a clear conscience in Christ, are none the worse for this pain, even if it seems to run upon you as a mob. The affliction is not the enemy; our senses become exercised to discern good from evil by such experience. Do not quench the Spirit that has kindled a lamp in your soul, but let this very trial prove all things, so that you may hold fast that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil, even the evil thought that God's wisdom is less than your command. The One at the right hand of God sees your struggle, and His grace is sufficient to turn this moonless night into a bright and shining testimony.