All praise to God, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all
comfort. He
comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to
give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Paul must have had a reason for praising God in the
middle of suffering. Writing a letter to
the church folk at Corinth, that reason for his suffering (and theirs) became
transparently necessary to human living, and the cause of Christ. That may sound like a circular argument without reason…suffering
brings God’s comfort, and God’s comforting allows us to bear pain…but even if
it appears
circular, it is backed-up by sound theological understanding.
The God-reason behind suffering has to do with living in
a fallen world, in which there is no escape from suffering. God did not create suffering to torture us, or
just because we’re evil, and we need to be punished. Rather, it is because of sin’s nature, and
therefore we, in our sin nature, are
prone to wander, suffer, and feel the pain of our folly. We live in relationship with the other 7
billion souls on this planet, and so we are also going to suffer when we’ve not
actually done something to deserve the pain.
Let’s face it, you didn’t get the Corona Virus because you stole a
dollar from your Mom’s purse, and you don’t get the flu because you had an
impure thought. These are part of living
in proximity to those who have the illness.
Sometimes we’re the winshield, and sometimes we’re the bug…stuff happens!
If suffering is unavoidable (and we know that to be
true, despite unceasing human attempts to avoid pain at all costs, and at the
expense of relationship, rest, fortune, or even reputation), well, what are we
to make of God’s part in allowing pain?
Is it just a reminder of how bad we are?
Is it to teach us to behave? And,
if it’s just a capricious thing God does, because God can do it…why would Paul
praise a God like that?
Well, lots of questions to be answered; most of the
answers are unsatisfactory when your foot is killing you with every step, or
your heart is failing, or your spouse just walked out on you, for what he said
is the end. Can you give me any reason or
purpose for that suffering, which will give me even the slightest hope of continuing
to live with purpose? I mean, what’s the
sense, if there’s no purpose?
The purpose in our suffering is often known only to
God. Paul had wrestled (like Job
wrestled) with his thorn in the flesh[1] only
to have God tell him he would have to wrestle with it longer…God’s grace would
have to suffice for now. History tells
us Paul finally came to terms with his suffering and pain, and even death. In Paul’s deep reasoning and understanding of
God with us, and our need for His presence and purpose, and even our need for suffering, Paul’s
letter to the Roman Christians gave the answer in a deeply-personal testimony
of God’s answer to our dilemma with pain and suffering:
Oh, what a miserable person I
am! Who will free me from this life that
is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:24-25a
For You Today
In Paul’s answer about being freed in Jesus Christ, he also
points to his former letter to the Corinthians, where he beautifully describes the
purpose for the whole process: Just as
Christ came to heal us in our pain of sin-sickness, we, in our suffering,
fulfill His ministry to comfort and heal others.
There
are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library. To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some
of these:
Suffering and When Pain Speaks
[1] Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
[1] See 2 Corinthians 12
