SOME THOUGHTS ON SUFFERING
Suffering of every kind is woven into the tapestry of our lives here on earth. Suffering comes to us in many disguises, physical, mental, emotional, psychological…Suffering is the lot of every human being on earth no matter what language or culture.
Human suffering seems to fly in the face of who God is. “Why does God allow suffering?” Some even blame God for self-inflicted suffering like the pregnant young teenager who recklessly slept with her boyfriend.
Suffering makes no sense until we take the long look.
1. Jesus suffered physically and spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically.
“He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.”
Isaiah 53:3 NLT
The highest purpose of Jesus’s suffering was to absorb the sin of the world into Himself without resistance so that all the suffering that sin produced and sin itself, would be neutralised forever.
2. For believers in Jesus, if we understand our suffering from God’s perspective, suffering is a golden thread that connects us to the glorious purpose of God, to recreate us in the image of His Son.
Peter has some marvellous insights into suffering, both Jesus’s suffering and ours, that clarify this amazing truth.
“For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment… For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”
1 Peter 2:19, 21-24 NLT
This is God’s way for us to endure and overcome suffering.
“So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.”
1 Peter 4:1-2 NLT
Suffering for and with Jesus neutralises our sinful appetites and helps us to face real life on a corrupted planet with the power of God’s grace.
What was Jesus attitude in all His suffering?
“He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly…. ‘
Paul adds to our understanding of our suffering.
“I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.”
Colossians 1:24 NLT
Paul did not mean that Jesus’s suffering was either incomplete or ineffective. His suffering was a perfect sacrifice of atonement for our sin.
However, His suffering would be of no benefit to us if we do not appropriate God’s grace to suffer as Jesus did. By steadfastly trusting God in our suffering of whatever kind, we demonstrate God’s power in our lives to overcome the sins of our old nature. We add to Christ’s suffering only by living as He did in submission to and trust in the love of God.
This season of Covid-19 has brought untold suffering to everyone on earth, from the loss of simple pleasures like visiting friends, walking the dog, or just freedom of movement, to the ultimate suffering of grief for the loss of family and friends.
How do we react in these circumstances that is different from the world?
Watch “COVID-19 Health Update From Joni Eareckson Tada” on YouTube https://youtu.be/squAX6lV2Aw
This video from Joni Eareckson Tada, recovering from Covid-19, is a beautiful testimony to the way she responded to her suffering.
In the midst of her darkness, the Lord asked her, “Joni, do you trust me?” She responded, “Yes, Lord, I believe.” In the days following this encounter, she developed a strange calmness, “almost an indifference” she said, to what it would feel like and how it would end.
She felt Him drawing her into His shelter and resting under the shadow of the Almighty.
Quoting the writings of another sufferer (I could not identify the name on the video), she said, “When the suffering soul reaches a place of calm, sweet carelessness, when he can inwardly smile at his (own) suffering and not even ask to be delivered, then it begins to work its blessed ministry. Then the cross we are carry begins to weave itself into a crown.”
In conclusion, said Joni,
“When we give our suffering over to God, and sink ourselves into His will, He will make every pain work its divine purpose in our lives.”
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
James 1:2-4 NLT