Suffering.

Heartache. Difficult decisions. Unexpected suffering.

Life is often full of pain.

Just this week alone, I’ve been in conversations with these people:

• A family with a 1 month old baby and the dad has just lost his job (only source of income).
• A friend facing difficulty at work who didn’t know if they could pay the mortgage this month.  And it’s only going to be more difficult next month.
• A friend working two jobs trying to make ends meet, has a new born, wife fighting health needs…and no insurance.
• I have three brothers.  All three of them are navigating through recent, unexpected physical and/or relational pain.
• A mom of four – her husband lost his job in the fall due to layoffs, just started a new job working more hours and getting half the pay.  She just lost her job because her kids would get sick and the employer couldn’t accept the doctor’s notes for the kids illnesses.
• A wife who lost her husband in a battle with cancer.  She now will raise 3 kids without their daddy.
• A family with a newborn baby boy…that has cancer.  He begins chemotherapy immediately, and he’s 11 days old.

It’s no exaggeration that my eyes have welled up several times even as I type this list.  I love these people.  They’re experiencing pain and heartache in personal ways.  Thoughts and sincere prayer for them and others have consumed much of my time this week.

And then this Haiti story.  Unbelievable….there aren’t words.

It’s been said that there are two things that can be counted on in life:  death and taxes.  Well we know the list is actually quite longer than that, and one area that belongs on the list?  Suffering. In one way or another – or usually, in many ways – everyone experiences pain.  It’s a cruel, inescapable reality of living in a broken world.

My wife Leslee passed on an article to me a couple weeks ago about suffering, and how a life of faith in God guides us in our suffering.  We can’t eliminate the suffering, and we can’t always answer the “why” questions.  And sometimes the pain and suffering can leave us feeling shattered.  But these are some good thoughts on walking with grace through the suffering:

Man has historically been desperate to determine the why behind suffering. We want to analyze and categorize events into nice and neat designations of precise cause and effect. “This is happening because of _____.” Perhaps we think that we can manipulate and control our future lives, protecting ourselves from certain undesired effects by avoiding particular causes.

We will all suffer. This is the deserved lot of humanity in this age. We would thus do well to develop a theology of suffering before the dark night comes. You do not wait until you are choking to learn the Heimlich and neither should you wait until you are in the throes of tragedy before learning the reason behind, and the response to, suffering. I have included seven of my own thoughts that I find helpful as well as links to a few highly recommended resources.

Seven Thoughts on Suffering:

1. God is entirely sovereign over absolutely all suffering. He works “all things” according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11). Even if Satan’s hand is behind your suffering (as it was in Job’s case), God’s hand is still involved (notice that God recommends Job and places boundaries on Satan’s ability to inflict harm). It is not either/or. See Does God Ordain Evil? by Matt Chandler for more on God’s sovereignty over and use of evil to accomplish His good and holy desires.
2. All things exist for the glory of God and thus in some way God is glorified even in our suffering. Read John 9 or the account of Lazarus in John 11 where Jesus intentionally delays His arrival so that Lazarus would die. Notice that the text says that this was motivated by His love and desire for His beloved to see God’s glory. It is better to suffer and see the glory of God than to continue in ignorant bliss.
3. All suffering is a result of sin’s origin with Adam’s first transgression. His sin has fractured all creation, but it will be restored one day (Romans 8:18-25). Therefore we can confidently say that tragedies are a result of sin, but as in John 9, we cannot look at the individuals afflicted and necessarily conclude that it was their direct sin, which precipitated the disaster (see Luke 13:1-5).
4. Suffering will work to conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-29). J.I. Packer—“Still He seeks the fellowship of His people and sends them both sorrows and joys to detach their love from other things and attach it to Himself.”
   
5. The proper response to suffering is faith and even joy. Rather than anxiousness, we should be growing in trust (I believe this will be the message this weekend at The Village). Rather than despair, we should be growing in joy (Romans 5:3-5). Trust that this is God’s good hand upon us and that He is a generous Father. All of His works toward His children are good. See this excellent and yet challenging article on Piper’s thoughts after he was diagnosed with cancer on how to not waste it.
6. All suffering is covered by the suffering of Christ. He was called one who was acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3) and He is able to help and sympathize with us in our suffering because of His own (Hebrews 2:5-18).
7. Soon and very soon there is coming a day free from suffering for those who have trusted and rejoiced in Christ. Believe this…hope in it…rest in it.

You can read the article in it’s entirety here.

Want a GREAT resource when going through suffering?  Shattered Dreams, by Larry Crabb.

Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Suffering is never wasted, and it’s only temporary.