Beneath

 "Sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about?" Judges 3:13..."Beneath every heartache, failure, and shattered dream, is a God waiting to be discovered." Larry Crabb

This morning in one of our prayer gatherings, it was asked why some of His choicest servants seem to suffer the most, and suffer seemingly unjustly? This is an age old question, and one that has no easy answers, especially for those who are undergoing the flames of suffering. Yet I think there are answers to be found, though they don't seem very satisfactory while we're in the flames.

The point has been made by many that those who have been most effective for Christ have been those who have suffered the most for and in Him. I think everyone who has entered into the pain of suffering while refusing to let go of His hand has discovered the truth of that. Jesus called Himself the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with sorrow. To really know Him, we must become acquainted with it as well. People who have lived their lives walking in nothing but sunshine rarely have anything to offer to those who have known the terror of the dark. They can't relate, and have little to say in the way of hope. They've never walked in the valley of the shadow of death, and have little help to give for the ones who are. They have no idea how to get through. I've come to see these ones as those who the Father can't really trust with suffering because they lack the spiritual depth to go on in the midst of it. Be sure that to be entrusted with suffering is a real part of the answer of suffering.

I love the quote from Crabb, that underneath the deepest of life's pain and loss there is a God to be discovered in it. God wants to be known, and known intimately. Also, in His relationship with us, He is always working with eternity in mind. This world is passing, though far too many of His are far too comfortable in it, and far too attached to it. In our good times, we rarely experience a thirst and hunger for Him, and so, we rarely travel very deeply into discovering who He really is. This will never be the case in the midst of suffering and pain. In that, there can be one of three results, that we will turn away from Him in anger for allowing it, or that we will sullenly decide to endure it, all the while resentful of His allowing it, or last, that we will throw ourselves upon and into Him. I think the majority choose either of the first two, but He calls us to the last. He does because in that choice lies the gateway into a deeper knowledge and experience of Him than we could ever have otherwise known. In our pain waits a God who will show us wonders concerning Himself and of who we can be in Him. If we will trust Him, we will emerge from the flames more whole and complete in Him than we ever thought possible. This will be a glory to Him, and a deep blessing to others, who we're now able to minister His comfort to, just as He ministered His comfort to us.

If you've never been in the "why" of suffering, perhaps it's because He's been unable to trust you with anything but sunshine, and though you may be comfortable there, you're of little use to Him or anybody else. More likely though, you have been, or are right now, in a place of pain. What will you choose as your response? Will you turn away in anger, or sullenly dig in and just hope to get through? Or, will you throw yourself upon Him, and in the pain, discover the One who is there, beneath it, inviting you into all His fullness?

In our humanity, we'll never fully understand the "Why's" of suffering. What we can know is the Father in ways we never dreamed possible. We find that His grace goes far deeper and wider than we ever dreamed. We will realize that our understanding of His goodness was far too small and limited. We will discover that the God we thought we knew wasn't really known at all. If we will trust Him, He will shape us into someone far more like Jesus than we ever thought possible. We will bring glory to Him, good to others, and I believe, as the old hymn goes, sing that it really was worth it all when we fully see Him on that great and awesome day. It's OK to have "why's", but may we trust Him with all of them, and know that one day, we'll understand it all fully while all the time, He was making Himself more fully known to us. Thank you Jesus, who dwells beneath our pain.

Blessings,

Pastor O