The Road is Short (A Theology of Suffering)

I’m talking about a hard subject today – suffering. My church is suffering a recent spate of serious illnesses. That is not the only suffering on our congregation or in the world. The loss of husbands and children, the loss of children to certain lifestyles. Mental illness. Lifelong struggles against addiction to drugs, alcohol, food, or porn. Losing jobs and homes, physical violence on the battlefield or in the home.

This is a darkened world! God created this world, is in this world, and will renew this world. But the Fall of Man was a terrible fall, so terrible that God himself chose to die to save the world.

Because in the same way that many of us are struggling with serious illness, the world is sick too. And it’s not just us who are sick, so is physical creation. There are people who love the beautiful parts of this earth so much that they have taken to worshiping it as a goddess. They call it Gaia, Mother Nature, the goddess who is the world. But when your mother goes around tossing earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods at you then you’ve kind of got to wonder about that kind of god. And you can see right away why the ancient worship of Ashtoreth and other nature gods involved a lot of prayers and sacrifices so the god wouldn’t smite you.

No, the world is not a mother goddess. And it hasn’t been abandoned by the true God either. There is still such beauty and love in the world. And there is meaning and purpose right through the pain. And although Satan may be the prince of this world, God is still its master and the world knows him.

On the evening of that same day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they left the crowd; the disciples got into the boat in which Jesus was already sitting, and they took him with them. Other boats were there too.

Suddenly a strong wind blew up, and the waves began to spill over into the boat, so that it was about to fill with water. Jesus was in the back of the boat, sleeping with his head on a pillow. The disciples woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?” Jesus stood up and commanded the wind, “Be quiet!” and he said to the waves, “Be still!” The wind died down, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Why are you frightened? Do you still have no faith?” But they were terribly afraid and began to say to one another, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:35-41)

See, here is the thing. There is suffering in this world. And unless your name is Elijah and Enoch, you’re going to die someday. But here is the great thing. God is always standing this world on its head, because we look at suffering and death and think about how awful it all is. And it is. It wasn’t meant to be this way. But God comes along and says things like “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt. 11:29-30)

Why does he say things like that? Two reasons:

1.    God brings goodness and salvation out of suffering.
2.    This life can be hard but it is short!

I’m going to talk more in coming weeks about the first thing – how God brings goodness and salvation out of suffering. This type of study is called a “theology of suffering,” understanding how and why even Christians suffer in this world. Today I’m just going to touch on it with someone else’s words that deeply affected me.

From a devotional by F.B. Meyer:

Let us accept our limitations as from the Will of God. There is no way to peace or power, save in accepting the Will of God, making no distinction between what He appoints or permits, but believing that in either we are in contact with the Eternal purpose for us. Paul never forgot that he was the prisoner of Jesus Christ. He believed that for every limitation on the earthward side there would be enlargement on the other and spiritual side. Weakness here, added strength there; the being hourly delivered unto the cross, and from the ground the blossoming of endless life.

Let us do all the good we can in spite of fetters. St. Paul could not continue his travels over the world, but there were many avenues of service open to him. He could pray, and he did (Col_1:3; Col_2:1; Col_4:12). He could influence others (Phi_1:11-14). He employed his leisure in writing the epistles that have been the perennial solace of sorrowful hearts. There is a door, nearer to you than you think, opening out of your prison, through which God will enable you to render helpful service for Him.

When Paul suffered physically he prayed to the Lord to take it away. And he was not wrong to pray! God does heal. But most importantly, God does what is best. And healing isn’t always it.

Three times I prayed to the Lord about this and asked him to take it away. But his answer was: “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.” I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me. I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:8-10)

Now let me explain the 2nd thing – that life is short. We say this as part of a clichéd saying. “Life is too short to do thus-and-such” – i.e., life is too short to worry, life is too short to not have fun, life is too short to decide not to play. And even though most of these sayings are devoted to physical pleasure, there is a lot of truth to it. This life is quite short in the light of eternity!

Mind you it’s important. God created this life, this world. This is where we make our decisions towards or against Christ and eternal life. This is where we live out God’s purpose for us, which apparently continues and expands in the life beyond this. This is where we form a relationship with God that lasts forever. This life is extremely important and the decisions we make here will decide how we spend eternity!

But the other thing is also true – in light of eternity, the amount of time we spend on this earth – even 100 years or more – is very, very short. It feels long because we’re in the middle of it and we have little point of comparison. This life is all we know. But when you are in the midst of suffering, please know two things: first, that your suffering matters. Jesus suffered too and really, truly knows what it is. He loves you and understands and is with you, and will use it for your good. And second, that none of this really lasts very long. Look to the end of life, not in a morbid or depressed way but in hope. Because ultimately, when life ends, those of us who believe will step into light and glory and joy and beauty forever. But we must stand.