A PRAYER ON SUFFERING

"I ask you neither for health nor for sickness, for life nor for death; but that you may dispose of my health and my sickness, my life and my death, for your glory...You alone know what is expedient for me; you are the sovereign master; do with me according to your will. Give to me, or take away from me, only conform my will to yours. I know but one thing, Lord, that it is good to follow you, and bad to offend you. Apart from that, I know not what is good or bad in anything. I know not which is most profitable to me, health or sickness, wealth or poverty, nor anything else in the world. That discernment is beyond the power of men or angels, and is hidden among the secrets of your Providence, which I adore, but do not seek to fathom."

A Prayer by Blaise Pascal taken from Philip Yancey's

Where is God When it Hurts?

Sometimes...probably most times...we cannot explain the suffering in our lives. Naturally we ask why? And we struggle through a process only to reach a place where we finally understand that we simply cannot understand. And that is enough.

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God . . . " (Deuteronomy 29:29).

HE CHOSE TO SUFFER

A story was once told to a group of children:

"What if I loved the birds and wanted them to eat out of my hand?"
“They’d be too afraid,” came the reply.
"But what if I talked to them and told them not to be afraid?"
“They wouldn’t understand your words,” said the children.
"Then what if I first became a bird for awhile?"
“Then they would love you.”

The simplicity of this analogy touched my heart, reminding me of what great lengths God went to in order to identify with us. Not only did He communicate His love in words, but He became one of us for awhile, in the Person of Jesus Christ—God in the flesh.

When I get weary of my afflictions, I sometimes become frustrated with God—even resentful. I’ll start to reason within myself that if God is all-powerful and can do anything He pleases, and if He truly loves me, then why does He allow my suffering to continue? It’s so difficult to equate love with pain. It doesn’t make sense within my limited framework of rationality.

One morning during church worship, when I was wrestling particularly hard with this question, the following scripture flashed up on the screen: “When Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (John 13:1). Immediately a thought pressed upon my mind: Consider how Jesus departed from the world. I sensed the Holy Spirit prodding my thoughts, and I became lost in several moments of reflection on exactly how Jesus left the world--through the doorway of suffering.

It is amazing how in His deity, the King of Kings could have chosen to exempt Himself from the troubles of life, but instead entered into the full constraints of the human experience, forgoing His glory for a time to endure both the common and the extreme afflictions of this corrupted world. On our behalf, HE CHOSE TO SUFFER, to take upon Himself the ultimate horror every human must face—death. In this way, He fully identified Himself with us.

I don’t know why God has created a world where suffering must exist—that’s a mystery that only He fully understands right now. We can only speculate by piecing together various fragments of information from His word, and beyond that we must exercise faith.

But God has promised that one day we will understand in full. In the meantime, He gently reminds us to focus on the ultimate proof of His love—the shedding His blood for our lives.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13).

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?

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.

WEAK FAITH

"Jesus asked the boy's father, 'How long has he been like this?' 'From childhood,' he answered. 'It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.' 'If you can'?' said Jesus. 'Everything is possible for him who believes.' Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, 'I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'" (Mark 9:21-24).

Imagine this man’s plight—he’d seen his beloved son tormented for years by an evil spirit that had rendered the boy mute and often tried to kill him. The disciples were unable to drive the spirit out. When Jesus arrived at the scene, the father pleaded for his help. When Jesus challenged the man’s belief, the man made an honest confession: "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

How conflicted. A part of the father believed that Jesus had the power to deliver his son; yet, at the same time, a part of him doubted. Have you ever felt that way? Torn between faith and doubt? I admit that I have. In my suffering, I knew that only God could help me, but when prayers for healing went unanswered for months, I became fearful and confused. Doubt took hold.

At first glance, it may sound like Jesus is saying that “faith” heals us. But a deeper principle is at work here. It is God who heals us. In other words, faith in “faith” itself is a work—when we try to muster up what we simply do not possess. But having faith in the Person of God is the key. There is a subtle difference between these two perspectives, and that difference has the power to either wreak havoc or to produce peace in our hearts.

What if we simply do not have that kind of faith within us?

I’ve come to realize that we can only believe someone to the degree that we trust them, and trust takes time to develop. As with our earthly relationships, trust in others develops over time as it is tested and repeatedly proves faithful. The same holds true in our relationship with God. Faith is a lifelong journey filled with various experiences designed to increase our trust in Him.

Look at Abraham. Young in his faith, he convinced his wife to lie about her identity in Egypt, fearful that he would lose his life because of her beauty. Abraham lacked trust in God to protect him. Yet, decades later, this same man demonstrated giant faith when he sacrificed his only son on an altar at God’s command. Through various circumstances over the years, God had developed Abraham’s faith.

STRONG FAITH

Notice that Jesus did not wait for the man’s faith to “kick in” before responding. No. Instead God entered into this man’s crisis and responded in a way that produced the end result—faith. You can bet that after seeing Jesus work, the father’s belief in Him was strengthened.

Nothing challenges our faith more than prolonged pain. Suffering draws to the surface what is hidden in our hearts, forcing us to come face to face with our gut beliefs. Sometimes what emerges from within is shocking—it can be an uncomfortable purging.

Looking back, if God had healed me at first cry, my understanding of Him would never be what it is today. Because He allowed my trial to continue, inaccurate and harmful perspectives were uncovered and healed. God is more concerned with our internal state rather than our external comforts. Hebrews 12:2 tells us He is both the author and the perfector of our faith.

If we waiver, we don’t need to cower under a cloud of guilt because our faith is not what it should be. Instead, as we humble ourselves before God, honestly acknowledging our weakness and needs, He will rise to our rescue. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17).

Prayer: Dear Lord, Help me when I am weak to have stronger faith. Forgive me when I doubt, and teach me to trust You in the depths of my heart, in every circumstance. Thank you that You not only initiated my faith, but You will perfect it until You bring me home. Amen.