Did you ever think if there really was a God, the world wouldn't be so messed up? You look around and wonder where the justice is...Maybe you feel that way about your current situation.
I mean life can take us to places we never imagined. Some good, some... absolutely devastating.
I've lived at heights most dream of but never experience...and for long stretches I believed would never end. Many years in fact.
Why
would it end? I was a 'good girl,' well, pretty good, anyway, by the world's standards. I
knew God, loved God, and my family and other people. I didn't lie, cheat or steal. And I had never killed anyone...Of course God showed me 'favor.'
I really thought I was
untouchable. Sound arrogant? Ignorant? Obnoxious?
Absolutely!
I even believed God
wanted it that way. From the minute I understood who Jesus is when I was a kid, and why Jesus came, God and I shared an amazing bond...True intimacy...but would He really show
me favoritism? I thought so.
At some point, as an adult, I became aware of really great people, and yes, even really great Christians who actually suffer in this world. But I was never privy to such things firsthand, you see.
Hmmmmmmm...curious. How did this reconcile with my beliefs? The Holy Spirit began nudging me to actually
read the Word of God, His amazing letter to us, the Bible. I could almost hear the Whisper to my soul, 'You don't really know what My Word says. Read it for yourself.'
'You have my attention, Lord.'
And so I began devouring the Word of God; not books about the Bible, but the Bible itself. I couldn't get enough. And I didn't stop reading it for 12 years.
I learned. A lot. And I changed. I started growing up in the faith God had given me.
I didn't attend Bible studies. I didn't pay attention to other people's opinions or sermons or doctrine. I let the Spirit of God teach me through His Word. My pastor had always taught us to take
everything back to the the language in which it was written, so I bought reference books to help me study Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, the 3 original languages of the Bible. I began to see the truth about lots of things, including suffering.
Yet,
my life remained so, so sweet. I had my beautiful girls to raise and my loving, successful husband at my side. I talked with God every minute of the day and I was blissfully aware of His Presence. It was all so good...
Surely you can hear the but. It's coming, I promise.
Maybe you've heard of Job. He's a guy in the Bible who had everything going for him and then had it all taken from him in one fell swoop...anyway, I can't compare my story to his, or my faith to his...
but<<<(there it is!) things began to fall apart and I suffered.
Why did I suffer? Funny, I never asked that question... Why does anyone suffer? Are they all 'bad' people? Of course not. Did I ask, "Why me?" No. All I could think was, 'Why not me?' Surely I was
no different from anyone else.
Interesting though, other people have alluded to the reason(s) for my misfortunes. I think this is because we like to have someone or something to blame. There must always be a known cause and effect; a reason for everything that we're able to point to and say, "Aha! Look what she did! She brought it on herself!" I must have done something to ignite God's wrath against me. As human beings, with the power to reason, we want to know the 'Why?'
I also wonder if we aren't looking to avoid the very thing we think the other guy did in order to avoid the same punishment! Or if we don't sometimes enjoy comparing our sins with those around us...'Well at least I've never done anything like that!' We get all puffed up...
I know God takes me through stuff so I can share it with you. Here are 7 of the answers I was able to come up with as to to why there's so much suffering:
1). The overall, generalized, big-picture answer is a bit simplistic I'm afraid. All humans suffer on this earth, to some degree, because of the presence of sin in the world. I know, people hate the word. Sin merely means that we (all) live contrary to God's plan, both as humankind and as individuals. God says so in His Word. (No. Some sins are not better or worse than others!) Sin has created violence, mistrust, divide, greed, poverty, corruption, envy, decay, sickness and ultimately death. And
all the earth suffers.
2). A bit closer to home, we live in jars of clay. Our bodies are not meant to live forever anymore. God's original design was for us to live with Him for eternity in a beautiful Garden, but we messed that up. He knew we couldn't live in these sinful, aging bodies forever, so He rendered us 'temporary' in this world. Our earth suits have an expiration date. They become sick. They get injured. They wear out. They die. We suffer.
But, for those of us whose hope is in Christ Jesus, we can say with the apostle Paul,
"Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."
3). This one is a little trickier. It's strictly meant for Christians, those of us who call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. And it's happening in me, with the help of God's Spirit. Suffering prepares the way for us to learn how to know God and trust Him in new, better ways.
Yaa, I didn't like this one either. I knew God well enough , thank you! I resisted this for a long time. Honestly, I'm still not always sold-out to the whole idea!
4). "God must have something new for you to do!" people told me. Newsflash. I didn't want anything new to do...
I knew God wanted to use me to love people and to do His work. But I was already doing some of this. I didn't know about the shake-up. Didn't expect it. Never saw it coming. Suffering is the mother of all shake-ups. It's all-encompassing...mind, body, spirit, soul. But if you've ever prayed to know God more deeply or asked to know your true purpose in this life, your answer may lie in the unexpected. Suffering enables all of the above. I'm just sayin'...
At a time when the apostle Paul was suffering, he asked Jesus to remove the cause, and the answer he got was, "My grace is sufficient for you, My power is made perfect in weakness." (In other words, 'No') But what does that answer mean? Mysterious, isn't it? And that is intentional, of course. Because God's grace, His favor, which we don't deserve, will be shown differently to each person. It's the same with His power. God's power in me won't look the same as God's power in you.
Paul's response was, "Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power
of Christ may rest upon me."
Wow, Paul. I have a lot to learn.
Maybe I do have something new to do.
God is still in the process of showing me what I'll be when I grow up!
5). Choices. Sometimes we are left broken and suffering by the poor choices of others. But let's face it. Sometimes we are the ones who have made the poor choice and must suffer the consequences. Either way, it can be unbearable. We need the love and support of God, yes, but we also need other people! This is not the time to isolate yourself. Find people who will support you and pray for you and with you. And may I add this? Give it time...time will reveal so many of the answers to the
questions you're asking now.
6). Sometimes we suffer because we are Christians. In case you missed it, it's not exactly popular to be a follower of Christ Jesus. He tells us we should be prepared for persecution--"hostility and ill-treatment by others because of our beliefs." Right now, in places around the world, people are being beheaded, crucified, gassed to death and shot execution-style for their religious beliefs. We are horrified. Families suffer. Communities are terrorized.
"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.."
Sobering.
7). Our suffering, in some small way, helps us become more like Jesus Christ Himself. No one suffered like He did. Not one of us. He actually bore the weight of the sin of mankind in His body on that cross. We will never know what that is like. Ever. Not even close.
Jesus was also physically beaten...to a pulp. I don't know about you, but I've never been
beaten to a pulp and born the weight of all earthly evil in my body while hanging on a wooden cross, after I was falsely accused, found guilty in a kangaroo court, mocked, spat-upon, kicked, whipped, beaten and then nailed with long spikes to a wooden cross until He breathed His last, while He bore the totality of the sins of mankind in His body.
And the Word says, '..that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like him in His death... ' Really? Honestly, how much of a share in His sufferings will any of us ever have? Even with all the evil we are experiencing and witnessing, it cannot compare to His suffering.
Yet, there is always purpose in everything God is doing. Even through our suffering. Jesus' suffering accomplished the greatest miracle in the history of the world...the forgiveness of ALL sins for ALL who put their trust in Him... Talk about purpose.
Don't forget. It was only a couple of days after all the torture and suffering that He, Jesus Christ, rose up out of the tomb. Alive!
He was the first to overcome sin and death and the grave. But not the last. All His followers will follow Him to Paradise, where He now resides with God the Father.
As for us,
"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed
Perplexed, but not driven to despair
Persecuted, but not forsaken
Struck down, but not destroyed
Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."
Oh, that His life may be manifested through me...
I was a happy, content woman before my suffering. I am even more joyful and more content today. Why? Not because I was somehow shielded from the pain of suffering~ I wasn't. I wanted to die. But because God is taking me through it. And because He is with me. And I do know Him better and deeper and on a different plane. I can face everyday with renewed excitement because of what He is doing.
What I lack in physical strength, God has given to me in double the spiritual and emotional strength. They say He doesn't give you more than you can handle, but that is an old wives' tale. He gave me a lot more than I could handle, on purpose, to show me that He'd be there to grab ahold of me and not let go, long after I couldn't hang on anymore.
One day I won't experience suffering anymore because I will be in that beautiful Garden, with Jesus. If you know Him, you'll be there too. And He will wipe every tear from our eyes. No more pain or sorrow or death. And He has promised that what we suffer now, on this planet, is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later on.
"For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
God Bless You My Friends xx
