Recently I asked God to teach me more about suffering. For those that know we have a God that hears our prayers and answers them- you may think that this was an idiotic request. Although I may have hesitated a little as I made this prayer request, it is not one that I regret.
The times of sufferings in my life have been the times where I have learned the most about the love and mercy of Christ. It has made me more aware of the extent of hardship Christ had to go through in order to provide us salvation. They have been the most humbling times where I have recognised my profound weakness and grown to understand my complete dependence on Christ’s strength and providence. But mostly they have been times of recognising idols in my own life and surrendering them over to God, in order to re-establish him as the centre of my life.
We all suffer in different ways. The severity and length of those times will differ in people lives. What causes suffering in one person’s life may not cause suffering in another person’s life because we value different things; therefore advising someone to get over something just because they don’t feel affected by it is probably not a wise thing to do. Seasons of suffering are genuinely hard times. However I can testify that they are the times that bring perspective and clarity to the great hope that we have in Christ. They are times that bring us to a place where we can honestly say ‘not mine but your will be done’. They are times that remind us that everything is meaningless apart from obedience to God and the hope we have in him.
Christians are quick to try and avoid suffering. Our prayers more often than not ask God to protect us from times of sadness, loss and pain rather then asking him to teach us through these times to the praise of His glory. Yet 1 Peter 1: 3-9 talks about the necessity of trials so that through the testing of our faith we may rejoice in the living hope that we have, the salvation of our souls.
The day that I asked God to teach me more about suffering I expected that I would go to into work and have the opportunity to share the gospel with a sick and dying patient and get ridiculed and warned for sharing my faith. Now to me, that is suffering for the gospel! As I entered my work place my prayers consisted of asking for the opportunity to share the gospel and to share in Christ’s suffering. God answered my prayers in a way that I didn’t expect. The majority of my patients turned out to be Christians! This is a rare phenomenon, and this continued to be the trend for the next few weeks.
As I had the privilege of nursing these sisters in Christ I was able to help carry their burdens and share in their suffering and genuine pain. As I was called to minister to them over the next few weeks they were also ministering to me in their time of suffering. It was a great reminder of God’s love for his children. All these Christian women had different stories to share about their suffering. Yet what they did have in common was their reaction to their suffering – praise and glory to God. An inexpressible joy in the Lord. A renewed hope in salvation. A better understanding of the faithfulness of God. And an acknowledgement of God’s purposes in allowing suffering - the testing of their faith which has been a great testimony to all those around.
3 comments:
This is my story: Severe M.E. and me: http://tinyurl.com/d3o9td I don't think you can really write about that level of suffering unless you've experienced it yourself. I know all the theology of suffering, all the Bible verses. But bottom line is, it sucks. I believe God suffers with me as I suffer and cries more tears than I do. He hates it too. That's why heaven won't have any suffering.
Thank you Anon for posting your story. I knew a little about M.E. but not quite how horrendous it is. I am not giving you pity, but please know how sorry I am to hear that you experience that level of suffering on a daily basis.... I have no idea what it is like to suffer to that extent.
And we are sorry if any of what we write on suffering on our blog comes across insensitive, flippant, or simple. It is really not our intention.
What we are hoping to do through this very humble series of ours is explore the topic of suffering in relation to walking with God and becoming more like Christ. We are not merely wanting to just look at the theology of suffering. We want in some small way to encourage everyone (including ourselves) not to waste their suffering, but allow God to use it.
And as Ali said in this post, suffering is different for different people. What may look like a mere unfortunate season for one person, may be absolute hell for the person going through it. We need to remember not to judge others and their experience of suffering - because we really have no idea what is like for one person or another.
And yes, we totally agree that at the end of the day, suffering completely sucks. It is horrendous, God does hate it, and He is preparing a place for His children where there is no more pain or tears or sadness.
Again, not wanting in any way to be trite or patronising, but I wonder if you have watched/listened to a message by Joni Eareckson Tada called 'Suffering For The Sake Of...' that she gave at John Piper's conference a few years ago. Joni has been a quadriplegic since 1967, and knows suffering on a daily basis well. It is a beautiful, honest, Christ-focused message - filled with so much joy and hope for eternity. I understand that audio and visual stimuli can be exhausting for you, but if you do get the chance I couldn't recommend it highly enough. And I'm not just recommending it to you because you have M.E. - I would recommend it to every single person I know.
Praying God's blessing, peace, comfort and joy to you - that He may give you grace and strength for each day that comes.
Emily
Sorry I forgot to post the link to Joni's message. Here it is:
http://tinyurl.com/yf4lmwy
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