Why Did God Create Pain? The Spiritual and Scientific Purpose Behind Human Suffering

Eli asks: “God created so many beautiful things in the world, but He also created things that are hard to understand — like pain. Anyone who has ever broken a bone or sprained an ankle knows what I mean. Why does it have to hurt so much?”

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In a previous article, we examined pain from a scientific perspective — how it is processed in the brain, and learned about a rare genetic disease called CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis), found among some Bedouin families in the Negev.
Those born with this disorder cannot feel physical pain. What seems like a blessing at first quickly turns into a curse, as such patients rarely live long.

As infants, they may bite their tongues and choke. As they grow, they might burn their throats by drinking boiling liquids — and most often, they die from minor, untreated injuries that become infected.

Dr. Yaron Weisel, who treats CIPA patients, said in an interview: “I’ve lost count of how many limbs I’ve had to amputate from these children.” One mother confessed, “I’ve stopped counting birthdays. I count the months my son isn’t in the hospital.”

Pain: Life’s Greatest Teacher

Fire is mesmerizing — but when a child touches it once and feels pain, he never forgets. As our sages said: “He who is burned by the hot will beware even of the cold.”

Pain doesn’t only alert us to danger; it educates us. It’s a built-in system of moral and physical training, teaching us to avoid harm and respect our limits. Children fall and get minor injuries, and through that process, they learn caution before facing greater dangers.

Pain, then, is not merely a biological alarm but a teacher. It shapes rational awareness of reality and cultivates responsibility for self-preservation. Without it, humanity would not survive.

Why Pain Must Be Strong

When someone breaks a bone or suffers internal injury, the strong pain forces them to stop immediately and seek help. The severity of pain signals to others that the situation is urgent. Even during recovery, pain prevents premature movement that could cause further damage — guiding both patient and therapist through the healing process.

In extreme danger, however, the Creator embedded another brilliant mechanism: during life-threatening emergencies, the brain can temporarily suppress pain so the person can escape or save others. Soldiers in battle, for example, have run or fought with severe injuries they only felt later. This too reflects divine wisdom.

Painkillers: A Gift from Creation

God, in His compassion, also provided natural anesthetics and healing substances within the plants of the earth. From them we produce pain-relieving medicines and anesthetics. These drugs act by disrupting pain signals in the brain, allowing healing after immediate danger has passed. Nothing in creation is random — even pain and its remedy come from the same divine source.

The Spiritual Dimension of Pain

Beyond biology, Judaism teaches that every pain or hardship carries spiritual purpose. Even minor frustrations or mishaps serve as atonement and refinement for the soul.

The Talmud says: “To what extent are afflictions considered suffering? Even if one intended to pour a cup of wine with hot water and mistakenly poured it cold — that is suffering. Even if one’s garment turns inside out and must be fixed — that too is suffering. Even if one reached into his pocket for three coins and took out only two — that is suffering.” (Talmud, Arachin 16b)

Pain, then, is not punishment but education of the soul. It reminds us of our fragility, redirects our focus to what truly matters, and calls us to spiritual growth.

Pain as a Wake-Up Call to Purpose

Physical comfort can dull the spirit. Those who rarely suffer may begin to believe that life is only about pleasure, but pain breaks that illusion. It awakens humility and awareness that the body is temporary, while the soul is eternal.

As Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto wrote in Mesilat Yesharim (Path of the Just): “No rational person can believe that the purpose of life is found in this world. For what are the days of man here? Full of toil, illness, and pain — and after all that, death. Even one in a thousand does not find true peace or joy.”

Suffering, paradoxically, enriches the human spirit. Many who endured deep pain discovered meaning, faith, and compassion. Some began their journey toward God because pain forced them to ask life’s ultimate questions. Others were moved toward self-development, charity, empathy, or Torah study — the ultimate refiner of character.

Pain as a Ladder to Wisdom

Who can say that pain exists only as punishment? Perhaps it is also a ladder — a divine tool to raise each soul to its unique greatness.
As the Torah teaches: “Know in your heart that just as a father disciplines his child, so the Lord your God disciplines you.”
(Devarim 8:5)

If life is a school, then pain is the advanced curriculum — tailored lessons that shape each soul according to its potential.

The Final Lesson

Our sages taught that in the World to Come, people will no longer bless God differently for good and bad news: “In this world, we bless ‘the Good and Beneficent’ for good tidings and ‘the True Judge’ for bad ones. But in the next world, all blessings will be ‘the Good and Beneficent.’” (Talmud, Pesachim 50a)

Then we will understand that even our hardest moments were hidden acts of kindness. The righteous already sense this truth — they accept suffering with love, trusting that God’s plan is always for good.

May we too learn, through our own challenges, to see pain not as cruelty — but as a divine invitation to grow, awaken, and become whole.