Suffering. It begs the question, doesn’t it? That ancient question, “Why?” What is the purpose of life, the meaning of existence? No one is going to confuse me with the great philosophers of the ages or anything, but I know the answer. Not because I’m terribly clever, but because God told me...and you...in His book. If you belong to God, you know the answer too, in those times when you’re thinking clearly and without distraction, however rare that may be in the midst of your pain. You know that you were created by God to reveal His love to the world. That’s it! That’s the answer. Simple, right? Well, actually it is simple but there is nothing easy about it, especially when we hold the misconception that our life's mission is to be as comfortable as possible. Sin, struggle and suffering are with us until Jesus comes to take us to a permanent home.
There are some readers here who may be in the throes of emotional or physical pain. It may be a secret pain that only you and God share. I’m sorry that you hurt. I wish there were another way. I don’t know the specific reason for your pain. We live in a fallen world. It’s broken. It became that way when sin entered the picture. I’m not going to make the mistake that Job’s friends made and accuse you of sinning in such a way that you brought the suffering upon yourself. Certainly we must take responsibility for our actions and sometimes there are unpleasant or tragic consequences. Even so, God is not a sadistic being who enjoys your pain. Suffering is not the point of your existence, no matter how it feels when your body is ravaged or your heart is broken.
That said, we are left to cope. Perhaps the angels are watching in awe as a young woman dying from cancer uses her last whispers to praise her creator. Perhaps they bubble with joy when a missionary says with new resolve, “The death of our son will not keep us from the mission field and Satan can’t have us because we will see our son again in Heaven”. Think about someone you have known who has suffered in this life and left behind a legacy of faithful children and friends. I’ve known women who were abused as children and are able to use an evil circumstance which was out of their control to bring glory to the father and comfort to the hurting hearts of others in the present. Those examples are helpful. We need to use them as models. But let’s get real. No one likes to hurt. We fear pain and death--we’re programmed that way. In fact, it is always with trepidation that I write or speak on this topic because it gives me a sense that I’ll get Satan’s attention and be tested by fire. It is natural to fear, to hurt and to grieve our losses. It is also very right to praise God anyway.
God allows suffering. He has the power to stop it all right now. If I try to make sense of it in human terms I will fail and I will miss the fact that there is a purpose often beyond human understanding. We are neither privy to everything that moves in spiritual realms nor are we consciously aware of everything the Spirit is working in our own beings.
The world-system, which has a prince named Satan, has a distorted view of suffering. The world’s idea is personal comfort at all cost, even when it means laying aside every moral standard and giving up belief in a God who bore a cross and calls us to do the same. A God on a cross is unappealing to a world that runs after pleasure and happiness above all else. A wounded, bleeding God requires a response of acceptance and trust and willingness to suffer whether rescued for His glory or allowed to suffer for His glory. That is a distressing picture and a hard path for many believers. It is impossible to accept for those who reject the Christ and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus made a promise to his followers: Abundant life and eternal life. There is our hope! There is our encouragement! Heaven is a finer reward than is imaginable. But there’s more. You see, eternal life is also part of the here and now. We catch a glimpse of it during mountaintop experiences. We experience some of the peace, love and joy now, when we praise God with our whole being. There is a blessing that comes from praising God during suffering that is deeper, wider and fuller. There is an astonishing wonder when we choose, regardless of how we feel, to sing to God, to speak His praises, to pray and lean, wholly dependent, upon Him. Life shared with him, now and later, is the reward, that is the goal, that is the perspective from which the Jesus follower makes decisions. That life is the filter through which every philosophy is studied, every important choice is made, and every pain is viewed. It is the only thing that makes enough sense in human terms to keep me hanging on to a God who continues to allow evil to exist, who allows his children to ache, or bleed or starve or die alone in painful agony. Life with God makes suffering purposeful because God is Love, and sooner or later, the reward will quench the fire and we will live as we were always meant to live: at one with the Father.
There are some readers here who may be in the throes of emotional or physical pain. It may be a secret pain that only you and God share. I’m sorry that you hurt. I wish there were another way. I don’t know the specific reason for your pain. We live in a fallen world. It’s broken. It became that way when sin entered the picture. I’m not going to make the mistake that Job’s friends made and accuse you of sinning in such a way that you brought the suffering upon yourself. Certainly we must take responsibility for our actions and sometimes there are unpleasant or tragic consequences. Even so, God is not a sadistic being who enjoys your pain. Suffering is not the point of your existence, no matter how it feels when your body is ravaged or your heart is broken.
That said, we are left to cope. Perhaps the angels are watching in awe as a young woman dying from cancer uses her last whispers to praise her creator. Perhaps they bubble with joy when a missionary says with new resolve, “The death of our son will not keep us from the mission field and Satan can’t have us because we will see our son again in Heaven”. Think about someone you have known who has suffered in this life and left behind a legacy of faithful children and friends. I’ve known women who were abused as children and are able to use an evil circumstance which was out of their control to bring glory to the father and comfort to the hurting hearts of others in the present. Those examples are helpful. We need to use them as models. But let’s get real. No one likes to hurt. We fear pain and death--we’re programmed that way. In fact, it is always with trepidation that I write or speak on this topic because it gives me a sense that I’ll get Satan’s attention and be tested by fire. It is natural to fear, to hurt and to grieve our losses. It is also very right to praise God anyway.
God allows suffering. He has the power to stop it all right now. If I try to make sense of it in human terms I will fail and I will miss the fact that there is a purpose often beyond human understanding. We are neither privy to everything that moves in spiritual realms nor are we consciously aware of everything the Spirit is working in our own beings.
The world-system, which has a prince named Satan, has a distorted view of suffering. The world’s idea is personal comfort at all cost, even when it means laying aside every moral standard and giving up belief in a God who bore a cross and calls us to do the same. A God on a cross is unappealing to a world that runs after pleasure and happiness above all else. A wounded, bleeding God requires a response of acceptance and trust and willingness to suffer whether rescued for His glory or allowed to suffer for His glory. That is a distressing picture and a hard path for many believers. It is impossible to accept for those who reject the Christ and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus made a promise to his followers: Abundant life and eternal life. There is our hope! There is our encouragement! Heaven is a finer reward than is imaginable. But there’s more. You see, eternal life is also part of the here and now. We catch a glimpse of it during mountaintop experiences. We experience some of the peace, love and joy now, when we praise God with our whole being. There is a blessing that comes from praising God during suffering that is deeper, wider and fuller. There is an astonishing wonder when we choose, regardless of how we feel, to sing to God, to speak His praises, to pray and lean, wholly dependent, upon Him. Life shared with him, now and later, is the reward, that is the goal, that is the perspective from which the Jesus follower makes decisions. That life is the filter through which every philosophy is studied, every important choice is made, and every pain is viewed. It is the only thing that makes enough sense in human terms to keep me hanging on to a God who continues to allow evil to exist, who allows his children to ache, or bleed or starve or die alone in painful agony. Life with God makes suffering purposeful because God is Love, and sooner or later, the reward will quench the fire and we will live as we were always meant to live: at one with the Father.