Recently I accepted an invitation to speak at a pastor's conference in Northern India. One of the topics they have asked me to address is the issue of how Christians should contend with suffering in this life.
As excited as I am in being asked to speak at this conference, I have more than a little trepidation about speaking to a group of Christians living in a Muslim and Hindu dominated culture about suffering. I think my Christian brother's and sister's living in that society could give ME some insight into that subject. I tend to agree with what Joni Erickson Tada wrote about a trip she made to Africa:
Here in the sub-Sahara, it seemed that the weaker people were, the harder they had to lean on God - the harder they leaned on him, the greater their joy. It was so different in America, I thought. In the West, we think God exists to make our lives happy, more meaningful and trouble-free. Suffering is a hateful word, and we do anything to eradicate it, medicate it, circumvent it, or divorce it, building hospitals and institutions to alleviate suffering. But in Ghana, people seemed more ready to come to God in empty-handed spiritual poverty, taking from his hand whatever he might offer.
A couple of weeks ago I addressed our graduating seniors with a challenge from the book of Hebrews that focused mainly on the subject of pain and suffering they would have to overcome in this life. From the text, I pointed them to the suffering of Jesus and how from His wounds we find perhaps the clearest answer to the question of suffering. The fact that Jesus carries His wounds into the next life seems to be saying to us that our pain and scars in this life only make the next life more meaningful, more joyful and makes the next life more complete.
I got an email later in the week from someone who wondered why I couldn't be "more encouraging" to our graduates.
I rest my case.
In this weeks Bible study from Hebrews 12 I will point out that suffering in this life exposes the inadequacies of our life perspectives. If your purpose for life is the same as most in our culture, to seek existential happiness and comfort and to never experience pain, then when the inevital pain comes into your life, it will destroy you because it will destroy your purpose.
George MacDonald once wrote,
“Everything difficult points to something more than our theory of life yet embraces.”
There is great tension in scripture regarding our suffering. On the one hand, this world is broken and sinful and that is not what God intended. On the other, because of His providence all of the suffering we experience in this life is used by God to change and shape us for His glory. The external brokenness of this world is used by Him to change our inner brokenness.
This is why we are not to despise suffering. This is why we are to count it all joy when we face trials of many kinds.
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