Theoretically, that sounds like it should make sense. But the reality is that minimizing or ignoring the pain that comes from suffering causes us to fail to love others, and as a result, we fail to honor God as well. Remember that in the midst of suffering, people need to know that we feel their pain too. We love first by weeping with them (1 Cor. 12:26). And then after this, then we can walk alongside them and give them encouragement from the Word. A good example of this, actually, can be seen in the story of Job (this wasn't even in the book, I came across this in my QTs randomly the other day). His three friends often get criticized for their horrible advice, and rightly so. But what's not really paid attention to is their original intention and their genuine love for Job. Coming from different places, they all left everything and coordinated a trip to go visit Job to show him sympathy and to comfort him. Right when they saw him, they shared in his grief - they wept, tore their robes, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. For a whole week, they didn't even say anything - they just sat there with him and stayed by his side, since his suffering was so great. He just needed his friends to be there with him.
That is the right way to empathize with those who are suffering and to show them God's love. Unfortunately, in Western culture, we suppress our emotions and put up a strong front (as opposed to other cultures, where they have several days of mourning with loud weeping and wailing). As we all may have noticed, God uses our tears to begin our healing and to release the pain inside of us. But as a culture, we often don't know how to deal with our pain well. In order to truly love others and to comfort them, we should see our pain in its reality and not ignore it.
Psalm 88 is one of the most discouraging passages in the Bible. The author is going through such great suffering, and crying out to God, yet not feeling any sort of comfort or response. And the reality is, there may be times where we will pray days on end look all over the Bible for comfort and hope, but still not feel comfort. This psalm shows us that it's normal to feel this pain and doubt God's goodness while we're suffering. When we're not feeling any comfort from our God in our suffering, then the pain is magnified beyond our imagination. Yet the psalm reminds us that God is there, despite our feelings. In Psalm 22, David also feels great pain and asks why God has forsaken him. In verse 3 though, he expresses his faith: "Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel." Why is this part included in there? Because God's holiness is our source of hope. It is because of His holiness that we can have full confidence that He will fulfill all His promises - that He will never forsake us, that He will pour out His mercy on us, and that He will design everything for our good.
"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning." - Psalm 30:5. Thanks to God's grace, we will experience mornings in this life, but the final morning will be that day when Jesus returns and wipes every tear from our eyes.
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies." - from Shawshank Redemption.
The author of the last chapter of the book, Joni Tada, is a quadriplegic (paralyzed). Especially during a really bad of case of flu when she couldn't breathe in the hospital and almost died, she just wanted to die. Hope seems hard to come by, especially if we were to be afflicted with a permanent illness or disability. But as Joni asserts, "If [God] can raise the dead, He can definitely raise us out of hopelessness." He parts the heavens and reaches down to rescue us because He loves us, because He delights in us. Though it be a constant struggle, we are called to glory in our weaknesses and in doing so realize that Christ's power rests in us (it won't happen without suffering).
Joni claims that the truly handicapped people are those who wake up and fly out the door every day on autopilot, failing to stop and acknowledge their Creator who gives them life and strength each day. Does that sound like us? We are living as people who do not need God. James 4:6 says that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Are we capable of humbling ourselves before God and being truly grateful for the sustenance and mercy that He bestows on us daily? Debilitating diseases will do that for us. But my prayer is that we who have been blessed with good health will give God the glory and honor He deserves, that we would not take His grace and mercy for granted. And that our praises would continue even when our health does not.
When Jesus tells us to take up our cross daily and follow Him, what is He referring to? The cross is not our burdens (illness, mistreatment from others, dreadful jobs, bad in-laws), but rather, the cross is our bad attitudes about our burdens. It is all of our complaining, worrying, resentment, and bitterness. When we die to the things that Christ died for, we become like Him in His death, and then His resurrection power will put to death all of our bitterness, all of our hatred, all of our worrying, all of our complaining. What a privilege it is to be able to share in Christ's sufferings and become more like Him.
When faced with suffering, we ultimately have two choices: get busy living or get busy dying. God desires that this broken world be convinced of His power to save, His abilities to sustain, and His hope. Will we reach out to the hurting people out there and help them get busy living? "Misery might love company, but joy craves a crowd." Let's choose to boast in our afflictions rather than sulking in our self-pity and sadness. Let's allow Christ to make His power perfect in us and help us to realize that we desperately need Him. Let's share this hope with others who are suffering and walk alongside them. And finally, let's thank God that He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us, that He will actively make all things work together for good to those who love Him.
This post concludes my series on suffering. Thank you to all who have read, and I welcome any questions and comments. This book has given me such deep insight into this difficult topic, and I hope that it has done the same for you as well.
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