Over the course of my life I have been a participating student of pain and suffering. You have, too.
Some of us simply participate and grow weary. Some participate and grow bitter.
Yet there are some of us who become a student of it. Oh, it takes a long time. Time and a willingness to listen beyond logic.
So many times in modern Christianity we've been told and taught to question God; much as Job and David did, they say.
'Shake your fist heavenward and cry out, "Why, God?"'
Lately I've been apprehended by CS Lewis' idea that somewhere along the way we've changed places with God. Before the modern era of Christianity we thought of ourselves as humbled beggars standing before a righteous Judge, ready and willing to submit to His wisdom. His wisdom and power are so far beyond ours, orchestrating the vast waves of life that ripple out from each person and intersect millions of times over.
But now we've changes places with Him. He is the one who must defend Himself because of our pain. He must give an account and become subservient to our questions; our intellect.
Job never got his answer. As Philip Yancey restates it, God said, 'if you can't understand the physical world ("Where were you ...?") then how ever could you begin to understand the moral one?'
Ravi Zacharias says that to all major world religions Suffering is central and Joy, peripheral; but to the Christian, Joy is central and Suffering lies at the edges.
I hope I never tell anyone to shake their fist at God and demand an answer for Suffering. I hope that I've learned to stand on the shoulders of Job and David, learning from them and not repeating their ways; always remaining humble before Christ, no matter what is given or taken away.
Again, borrowing from Yancey, I pray that my only disappointment in Suffering comes because my faith falters in myself, not in my beautiful Lord.
Watch this video on full screen mode. I pray that God sparks in you a Joy that transcends any sorrow or compassion that you may experience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZv1WWrBiMI
5 comments:
I was recently convicted by something Oswald Chambers wrote: "Always distinguish between what you see Jesus to be, and what He has done for you. If you only know what He has done for you, you have not a big enough God; but if you have had a vision of Jesus as He is, experiences can come and go, you will endure 'as seeing Him Who is invisible.'"
I wonder if, in those fist-shaking moments, we're concentrating too much on what God has provided in the short-term (and what we hope he will soon provide), and not enough on who He actually is.
The video is Wicked Awesome!
we are a helplessly selfish people...we want what we want, and when we don't get it, or when we experience that which is painful, our first reaction can be to angrily question. but there is a difference between the angry questions of the self-absorbed, prideful man and the humble question of the contrite heart. the student of suffering, the one who learns that is it a part of the manifold voice and plan of God, is able to ask humbly, "Lord, why do I suffer so? how are you shaping me in this?" in his wisdom, the Lord may reveal in the moment why one suffers, but humility must remain intact when the Lord remains silent.
Dude,
Are you ever going to update this thing?
who is nick?
i am liking nicks comment right now.
if you want me to take part in your vast knowledge you must feed me in the only way i can learn : the internet.
get on it, pops.
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