Thoughts on Suffering

There have probably been a million blog posts written about how Christians should view suffering, so I don’t promise to say anything you haven’t heard before.  But the topic keeps coming up this weekend, and it’s something I’m chewing on, so I thought I’d do some processing here on this blog (the one that I haven’t really abandoned…I’ve just been focusing on our Africa one these days).

 

Much of what I’m thinking about comes from a sermon my pastor in the States preached in September that I listened to yesterday (I’m so thankful for technology that allows us to keep up with our home church, even if we’re a little behind.)

 

In the sermon, my pastor asked a hard question:

 

Do I view hardship as a means of spreading the Gospel?

 

Our pastor said that if we see suffering as something just to get to the end of, maybe Jesus isn’t our “end.”  Maybe we see Him as just the means to the “good life” (safety, comfort, success, etc.).  That’s not to say that we have to enjoy suffering and that we shouldn’t want it to end.  It’s totally okay to want suffering to cease.

 

But is that our only goal?

 

Or do we see suffering, hardship, and pain as things that Jesus could use to further His Kingdom?  Are we willing, like Paul as he wrote his final letter to Timothy on the Roman version of death row, to have our suffering used for His glory, for those who might need the Gospel, and for the good of our brothers and sisters in Christ?

 

In church this morning, we watched this video that is absolutely incredible.  It was made by Egyptian Christians whose church has been burned, but God is literally raising them from the ashes.  The song is in their “heart music,” but I think it is beautiful.  Take a few minutes to watch it, and be sure to read the English translation of the words.   (If you’re reading this just in your e-mail, click on the link to go to the actual blog so you can watch the video.)

 

 

Talk about seeing suffering as a means of spreading the Gospel.  Talk about placing one’s trust in God, in spite of persecution and hardship.

 

Are you as amazed as I was by that video?

 

After watching something like that, it’s hard to even compare my own suffering, but I guess that’s why we aren’t to compare.  We are to apply God’s truth to whatever comes along in our own lives, no matter how it compares to others’.

 

It has been something challenging to think about but also encouraging.

 

It might seem like a “small” thing, but as Taylor and I look towards the coming holidays, knowing that we will be missing time with our families and key events like my sister-in-law’s first baby shower, the hurt is very real.  I’m sure we will enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas with our friends here, but sadness and homesickness are also bound to be part of those holidays and the weeks surrounding them.

 

This is part of the cost we had to count before coming to RVA.

 

And while it’s not physical suffering, starvation, or persecution, it is still suffering.  And it’s nice to know that it’s for a reason.  We are here to spread the Gospel to the young men in our care.  We get to disciple and invest in these young men.

 

Sometimes, we don’t get to know the reason.  I talked with a friend recently who is going through a very painful time, and my heart breaks for her.  I don’t understand why she must suffer, and it’s hard to see how God will use this for good or for the Gospel.  But He will.

 

I look at our own battle with trying to have a baby and facing the possibility that it might never happen.  It’s only been a little over a year, so I can’t assume that, but the potential is there.  And even if we do have a baby, this season of waiting and wondering and aching for a child of our own will always be a part of who we are.

 

Am I willing for Jesus to be my end goal?  Am I willing for this struggle to somehow—even if I don’t know it now—be used for the spread of the Gospel or for the encouragement of my brothers and sisters in Christ?  If we never have a baby or if we somehow are never even allowed to have children at all…can I remember that having children was never to be our goal in the first place?  That the end goal is Jesus, no matter what else happens?

 

Is that really true in my life?

 

Painful as it might be at times, no matter how much sometimes I’m pretty sure my end goal is to have many babies, I do want it to be true in my life that Jesus is my end.

 

I won’t say it’s not something I have to wrestle with.  I probably will have to wrestle with it every time I come into a new season of waiting, of grief, or of suffering.  Seeing suffering or hardship or the need to surrender a dream as something to be used for good doesn’t come naturally to us humans.  It can only come as part of the transformation process Jesus is doing in us if we believe in Him.

 

I’m chewing.  I’m wrestling.  I’m “percolating” as a dear friend of mine likes to say.

 

So I don’t have a clever ending to this blog post.  Instead, I’ll leave you with these words from a Hillsong song we sang at church this morning (“Forever Reign”).  Do I believe them?  Do I live as though they are true?  Do you?

 

(Oh) I’m running to Your arms

I’m running to Your arms

The riches of your love

Will always be enough

Nothing compares to Your embrace

Light of the world forever reign