Suffering

Pain and suffering are a part of life, but they haven't always existed and won't last forever for everyone.  We can find hope in knowing that God is in sovereign control of all that happens, even the painful events, even when we are suffering, even when we don't understand.  It is also sometimes hard, in the midst of suffering, to see how it is for our good, for God’s glory, or how it could ever be used for something good.  The pain seems to take over our thoughts and emotions.  We don’t understand God’s ways.  We cannot see all that He sees.  We must trust Him.  Times of pain and hardship are probably the times that it has been hardest for me to trust, yet it is the time it is most needed.  How do we trust in suffering?  By the grace of God alone.  I cannot explain how I was able to turn to Christ and trust Him in my darkest moments.  I honestly don’t even remember them in full detail.  Yet, by the grace of God, when I was at my worst, I ran to Christ.  I cried out to Him in my despair.  I trusted that God had a plan and that it was good.  My family has had a hard week, yet I can look back at all the times that God carried me through difficulty and trust that He will do it again.  I know that He has the perfect plan.

Pain and suffering are the result of the fall.  We see that the perfect paradise God created was marred by the sin of mankind.  We were separated from God and given over to our desires.  The ground will have thorns and thistles, it will be hard to produce food, and there will be animosity and struggles within the family structure and pain in childbearing.  We see this worked out in all sorts of ways: natural disasters, animal attacks, famine, drought, broken and distorted families, divorce, the physical pain of delivering a child, the emotional pain of a child loss, the mental pain of caring for a specialty baby, or the spiritual pain of a child that rejects the faith.  Our pain is a result of sin. I don't believe each incident is a direct result of someone's sin (though some are).  Suffering comes as the general result of sin being in the world.  Sin separated mankind from God, no longer walking with Him each day.  The ramifications of the curse are felt throughout the world at all levels.  All of us are born sinners, and we cannot escape judgment.

Jesus gives us hope!  One day, we will be free from sin and pain and suffering, and death!  One day we will walk with God again.  Jesus’ death atoned for the sins of his people.  This gives us peace with God, and we can come into his presence once again.  While we still struggle here on earth with the results of sin, one day it will all be over.   One day Jesus will return with a final judgment on sin and bring His people into His presence forever to reign with Him in a new heaven and a new earth.  There will be no more sin, and we will forever live in worship of the King of Kings.  This is our hope.  This is where we look in times of trouble.  This is the peace we have during a storm.  

Our hope doesn't minimize the pain or suffering, but it makes it bearable.  We can have hope for the future knowing this pain won't last forever. We can trust that cancer will not ultimately win.  We can look forward to a day when we can meet those babies in heaven.   This world, career, family, and situation is not our goal.  We can know for sure that our purpose on this earth is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  Amid our despair, we can call out to God and find peace in our sufferings.  The Heidelberg Catechism Question One reminds us, “What is your only comfort in life and death?  Answer:  That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.  He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil.  He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.  Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.”