Subtle Beauty

Photo By: Eileen Gregory Selby

THE SEASON OF SUFFERING

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4).

If suffering could be compared to a season, it would certainly be winter.

Winter is dark, cold and isolating. As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, flowers die, creatures hide, and the world recedes into a canvas of gloom and gray. Winter--the longest of the four seasons--has a way of triggering depression as it wears out its welcome and stretches the limits of human patience.

If suffering is like winter, then it’s no wonder we disdain it so deeply. Suffering is an uncomfortable “activity under heaven”—one that provokes cross emotions and behaviors while rubbing up against our godly strivings for hope, joy and peace.

But the sorrow of suffering has an appointed time and purpose in each life under heaven. God does not want us to deny our pain, nor to escape it—rather He calls us to embrace what He has paradoxically designed. Like winter, our suffering has a subtle beauty that can only be appreciated within the framework of faith.

PERMISSION TO SUFFER

One of the greatest acts of kindness we can extend toward someone in crisis is to grant them the permission to suffer. We don’t always need to cheer people up, or to suggest explanations for their troubles, or to put a positive spin on every circumstance. Sometimes when people are suffering, what they need most is validation—someone to simply acknowledge that their crisis is, indeed, sad. As Romans 12:15 says: “Rejoice with those who rejoice—and to weep with those who weep.”

I think some people try to brush off sadness because they fear it is a weakness of faith. But sadness is not an unrighteous emotion, and a number of scriptures display this truth. One in particular is Psalm 88. Please take a moment to click on this link and read over this unique passage in the Bible.

Did you notice what was so unusual about this Psalm? Unlike most of the others, this one both begins and ends in despair. The author of the Psalm is a man named Heman, which is Jewish for “faithful.” Look at the words he used to describe his feelings: afflicted, rejected by God, close to death, the object of God’s wrath, cut off. Yet, Heman’s psalm reveals an ember of faith as he casts his sorrows upon “the God who saves me.” (vs. 1).

If you are in a season of suffering, no one but the Lord knows how long it will last. But God does not expect you to pretend. He does not condemn you for your feelings. Jesus is a compassionate high priest—a “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3). God is able to use the uncomfortable emotion of sorrow to conform us to image of Christ, for within the experience of sorrow is the opportunity to develop compassion.

Prayer: Dear Lord, You have created the seasons of our lives—each with a specific purpose and designated time. Even winter, in Your hands, reveals a subtle beauty. Thank you for allowing me to feel what I feel without the fear of Your rejection. Help me to grieve my crisis for the appropriate length of time, and to know when I should look for the spring. Meanwhile, send me a companion who will mourn with my mourning and allow me to be real. Amen.

WHY?

by Anne Graham Lotz

"Have you doubted God's love for you personally? Are you mentally wandering in confusion as you seek to determine what you have done that was so bad as to deserve this?"

"Bad things do happen to those Jesus loves. But remember the spiritual principle: Glory follows suffering, and life follows death. It's a principle that's as true today as it was in olden days..." Read more in Why?

AUTHENTIC FAITH

by Gary Thomas

"The Christlike life is not simply about practicing impeccable morality and overcoming temptation and faithfully performing a few spiritual disciplines…..we are called to give ourselves over to the salvation and sanctification of Christ’s bride, the church, rather than to be consumed by our own welfare. This holy self-forgetfulness is the most genuine mark of true faith, the evidence of God’s merciful grace in our lives." --Gary Thomas in Authentic Faith

THOUGHTS IN CRISIS

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

The Mind Set on the Flesh

The mind is a restless wanderer, continually seeking to occupy itself with thoughts. Often when we suffer, our minds become obsessed with our troubles, rehearsing them over and over until they loom so large that we can see nothing else.

Chronic pain, whether physical or emotional, has the capacity to wear down our mental resolve and to take our minds hostage. Thought processes can easily become caught in harmful repetitious patterns, sometimes before we even recognize what has happened. And once we allow our uncensored thoughts to interpret who God is, rather than filtering our thoughts through the light of God’s word, then we become vulnerable to the darts of fear and discouragement. In time, these hurtful emotions will drive us away from the One we need the most—our Heavenly Father.

In his book entitled Far From Home, Joseph Stowell, former president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, talks about the deceitful spins that Satan attempts to put on our thinking patterns. Here are a few:

• God cannot or will not fix this;
• God likes others better than He likes me;
• God hasn’t rewarded me for my sacrifices;
• God’s ways are too hard and strict.

Now I’d like to add a few of my own:

• God doesn’t love me any more;
• I’m not worthy of God’s love;
• I’ve lost my salvation;
• I’ve committed the unpardonable sin.

In your suffering, have any of these thoughts ever crossed your mind? If so, I can guarantee you are not alone! Satan’s very first move in the Garden of Eden was to twist Eve’s thoughts about God, and nothing is new under the sun. The enemy still uses the same strategies today.

The Mind Set on the Spirit

2 Corinthians reminds us that when our faith is in crisis, that crisis takes place in the battlefield of the mind. Here, in our thoughts processes, is where we will either win or lose the fight. At times we need to disengage ourselves from our emotions, and with an act of our will to think about WHAT we are thinking about. In this way we will be able to expose the lies. As we read God’s word and become more familiar with the truth, we will become better armed to resist the attacks of the enemy.

Has suffering stolen your peace? Perhaps its time to take inventory of your thought life: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6). If you are feeling the weight of “death” in your heart, it may be that your mind is filled with dark (carnal) thoughts. Only God’s word has the power to break the chains.

Suggestion: At one point in my crisis my mind had become so entrenched in fear that I was unable to pray myself out of it. So I wrote the words of Joshua 1:7-9 on an index card and placed it beside my bed. Every night before going to sleep, I read that verse aloud, and every morning, the moment my eyes opened, I did the same. Before long, that verse reached deep into my unconscious and began running through my dreams. Eventually, the power of God’s word set me free from the tyranny of fear.

Grand Canyon

Photos by Eileen Gregory Selby

THOUGHTS IN CRISIS