Suffering in silence or in joy.

 

... and then someone said sotto voce, "if God cared so much He would not let her suffer ..."

Being a Christian and a God-loving person does not mean we will have a joyful life with nothing ever going wrong. There will be times of great difficulty, as happens to most people, whether they believe in God or not. Being Christian does not make us immune to pain. Physical pain, mental pain, spiritual pain, the pain of loneliness and rejection, the pain of poverty, of prejudice or hatred which so abounds in this world.

I guess a number of readers right here are suffering some pain or other. Perhaps it's an illness, or the heart-breaking pain of a relationship that's gone bad, or the agony concerning a loved one that has gone astray, either physically by the way they live, or spiritually by turning away from God.

It is natural for such people to ask God, "why did you let this happen to me?" It is natural to have dark thoughts, perhaps rebelling against the very God we have grown to love and trust. This is the work of the evil one. He knows what you are going through and he uses this opportunity to derail you and your very faith away from God.

He tried it on Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

“Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” Mark 14:32-42

That was the devil tempting Jesus. He tried to tempt Him and derail Him from His mission many times. So you should not be much of a challenge to him.

Many people in the Bible suffered in one way or another whilst carrying on God's work. They were beaten, had stones thrown at them, arrested, imprisoned, killed, yet they kept going.  

"Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

We do not know whether Paul suffered a physical illness, or whether it was a spiritual attack by the devil to keep him from preaching God's Word.

But what we do know, because he says so, is that God's grace was with him at all times of suffering.

And it's the same with us when we suffer. I do not believe we should suffer with joy and be glad when we're in pain. God does not enjoy and revel when we suffer. He knows that suffering of all sorts will come our way, and He is there to comfort us and relieve our suffering according to His will for us.

“Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out”. (1 Corinthians Chapter 10 Verse 13).

Suffering

I was day dreaming the other day and I wondered; what if I came face to face with a genie? You know, the one out of a bottle or an old oil lamp. And what if he gave me one wish.

Just one wish. What would it be? Happiness for myself and my family? Riches? Good health? That’s three wishes for a start; and I only have one wish to make.

As I sobered up and considered this carefully I thought I’d ask the genie to end all suffering in the world. Now wouldn’t that be wonderful? No more suffering from hunger and poverty. No more suffering from illness and old age. No more suffering from violence and bullying. No more suffering of any kind anywhere in the world. I wonder what that would be like.

Then I thought about suffering. It comes our way from time to time and stays with us for varying periods, sometimes for ever, and hurts us to varying degrees. Why, and what should we do about it?

I believe that God allows suffering to come our way for reasons best known to Himself.

But I also believe that He takes no great delight in seeing us suffer. It isn’t for Him a means by which He somehow “purifies” us from our sins, or an essential condition which we should accept gladly as a badge of honour, or some sort of sacrifice to repay Him for what He has done for us.

Let’s face it; there is NOTHING we can do which will ever repay what God did for us. And He does not, and never has, asked for repayment by means of suffering and donning sackcloth and ashes, or reciting endless prayers, or lighting candles or placing flowers in front of statues. God never asked for any such thing, and I repeat, there is NOTHING we can do to repay God for what He did for us, and for Christ's sacrifice.

In fact the New Testament is full of evidence that God is against our suffering.

Christ acted against suffering when He saw the sick and the poor, the blind, the deaf, the dumb and the lame, as well as those possessed by the devil. On every occasion He stopped suffering by healing those brought to Him. Even when suffering was the result of death itself, as for instance when His friend Lazarus died and his family were distraught; Christ acted against the suffering of death and raised Lazarus once again.

I suppose it can be said that Jesus took upon Him all the suffering of the world when He hung dying on the Cross.

And even today, Christ is fighting against suffering. For He is alive and with us now as He was after the Resurrection.

His Holy Spirit fights against suffering through the hands of many who can heal through prayers and the miracles performed in His name. His Holy Spirit is at work fighting suffering through the miracles at Lourdes and elsewhere. His Holy Spirit is fighting suffering through the miracles and intercessions of the Saints. And His Holy Spirit is fighting suffering through us; yes … you and me. Not just people in the medical professions, but every one of us is empowered to alleviate the suffering of others by what we do, or say, or by just by being there for those in need.

When suffering befalls us God does not want us to accept it as a sacrifice and suffer in silence. To do so is tantamount to saying that He wills it and delights in it and we should accept it.

God does not ask the sick man to suffer in joy and not seek any medical advice. Or not to pray for healing and to do nothing about it. God does not ask anyone to accept suffering willingly and do nothing about it.

Only Christ accepted suffering willingly and He did so for a Divine purpose to redeem us all from our sins.

That God allows our suffering is in no doubt. But I repeat, He does not delight in it and He does not wish us just to accept it without any attempt to confront it and fight it. He would wish us to act against the evil of suffering just as Christ did when He walked this earth. Jesus welcomed the sick and the dying and He had pity on them and healed them. He did not tell them to go suffer in silence, or in joy, because He was too busy preaching about God's Kingdom. He acted against suffering on every occasion and never turned anyone down.

Through prayers we act and seek help for the ending or easing of our suffering. Through the intercession of the Saints, the Archangel Rafael known as The Healer, or through the help of those blessed with the power of healing. We can and should act to ease or end our suffering whatever it may be.

Like the woman who dared to touch Christ’s garment we too should dare to ask for His help; rather than accept suffering as if it were our duty to just grin and bear it.

To suffer in silence and do nothing about it is a great disservice to the Lord as it portrays a certain lack of Faith and Trust in Him and His love and mercy.

Just like all those people who asked Christ to end their suffering we should dare to believe that God is but a prayer away and He wills the end of our suffering.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

The world is in turmoil right now, and there is suffering of every kind we can imagine. Indeed, we can pray to God to end all this suffering, and He will listen. But there is something else we can do also. Yes, we too, you and me, can perform our little miracles and end suffering when we see it in others.

When we see Lazarus starving at our doorstep, when we see the old neighbour needing help with the shopping or the housekeeping, when we see our colleague at work struggling under the bullying of an oppressive boss … we too can reach out our hand and help in some way to ease and end that suffering.

Maybe that is why God allows suffering to happen in the world. Not for us to accept it and suffer in silence. But to give each one of us an opportunity to help in any way we can to end or ease the suffering of others.

When I think about it, we don’t need a genie to end the suffering of the world. We have the power of that genie within us. We just don’t want to use it.

And that makes God sad.