Little Beverly Smith, born in Akron, Ohio, almost never cried. She never cried when she fell down; she never cried when she bumped her head; she didn’t even cry when she burned her hand on a hot stove. She cried only when she was hungry or angry.
The doctors soon discovered that she had a defect in the central nervous system for which no cure is known. She could not feel pain. The doctors told her mother she must watch Beverly constantly: the baby might break a bone and continue using it until it could not be set properly; she might develop appendicitis without nature’s usual warning of pain. Spanking her to make her more careful about hot stoves or knives would do no good; she wouldn’t feel it. Life without pain would be perpetually dangerous.
The spiritual application is simple. The Lord sends troubles into our lives for a purpose. ” For whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives….if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not sons ” ( Hebrews 12:6,8 ). If we accept the warnings of the little chastisements, we will be kept from the bigger hurts, just as the warnings given us by our nervous systems keep us away from fires and other hurts.
Let every Christian examine himself to see whether he has become insensible to the presence of sin.
- Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse