Suffering: God's Holy Will ~by Sarah V.

Deidre walked quickly along the sidewalk, checking her iPhone. Her chic black heels defiantly clicked; a sleek black suit showed a sense of fashion; and her makeup completed the professional look. There was just one problem: Deidre was not having a good day. She had already had a fight with a co-worker and several dead ends—and it was only lunch break. Now, after lunch with an encouraging girlfriend, she was heading back to the office to meet with the other executives. And, suddenly, she was there.

“It’ll be OK. Stay calm, you’ll get that promotion,” she thought as she pushed open the door to the boss’ office.

“Thank you everyone for attending,” said Mr. Taylor, the boss, “I’m really pleased to say that I am going to be rewarding some hard work with a promotion. I’d like to bring your special attention to Miss Allison Veza.” Everyone smiled and clapped, but it was obvious everyone did not think this was “pleasing.” Allison Veza was the Mr. Taylor’s favorite, not because of her personality or hard work: she was his niece. She was blonde and beautiful, to be sure, but that was the dead end of her virtues. Deidre held back her tears. She had worked overtime so many evenings, trying to please Mr. Taylor, and now he rewarded her with this?!

“Lord, help me. I know this is your providence for me. I am yours,” she prayed silently. A moment later, her phone rang. Everyone looked at her.

Suffering is God’s providence for his people.

Through suffering, God displays his faithful mercy and love; he disciplines and humbles us; and he sanctifies us. In all this, Jesus, our Savior and “Suffering Servant,” is shown to us in clearer and fuller tones.

God shows his people his infinite faithful love and mercy for them by contrasting his goodness against the fearfully dark backdrop of suffering. As Christians, we are prone to slip into “slumber”, taking our luxury and ease for granted—but not so. We must keep a vigilant eye for the Devil’s tactics. As the lyric composer Johann Freystein wrote in his hymn, Rise, My Soul, to Watch and Pray, “Watch against the devil’s snares, lest asleep he find thee; for indeed no pains he spares to deceive and blind thee…” Satan will blind Christ’s children many soporific ways, but primarily with the fear of being persecuted. Why is this? Because, we, who are so faithless, doubt Him, who is so faithful. Instead, we must look at the examples of other Christians. For example, when the Goths attacked Rome in 410 AD, the barbarians let all those who had taken shelter in churches to remain unharmed. In The City of God, Saint Augustine notes, “…these blood-thirsty barbarians spared them, and spared them for Christ’s sake…”¹ Should not this stir the Christian’s heart, and make him like the little child, who, trusting his parents in everything, finds good in their loving hands during the most evil of times.

When God gives us plenty, and then removes these trivial comforts for a time, we should still rejoice whole-heartedly, seeing the rays of “sunlight” which God blesses us with. In the example above, involving the Roman Christians, we this lived out. These people were not loved. They were not esteemed. In fact, after the sacking of Rome, the stiff-necked Romans blamed Christ for bringing this tragedy upon them, even though some of them took shelter in the churches. Still, the Christians persevered, trusting God, and thanking him for his goodness, which was embodied in the preservation of their lives. But, there was an obedient servant, who did not receive what he deserved; he obeyed his Father perfectly, and was punished for crimes which were not committed by him. By now, you, the reader, will be filled with a sense of anger; anger at injustice. How could such an outrage be committed? And yet, you, the reader, would be shocked and dismayed, if you knew that this injustice was committed for your sake. Yes, Christ, the holy Son of God, took the condemnation that you earned, and suffered in you place, becoming the Suffering Servant. As this sacrifice is perspicaciouslyconsidered, we must, with all humility, thank the Lord for all his mercies: we no longer must live in darkness, but Christ has shined His Light on us. The troubles which temporarily trouble our lives are neither darkness nor shadows, but merely rain. With thankfulness we must “…trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain that morn shall tearless be.”²

Through our trials, God disciplines and humbles us. Just as a father lovingly disciplines his children, so the Father does with all his children. He shows us our sin, and gently reproves us through hard providences. St. Augustine notes that when the barbarians invaded Rome some of the young Christian women were seriously mistreated. He points out that the Christian women were so proud of their virginity, that this pride was diminishing their trust in God. By undergoing this horrible trial and humiliation, God was humbling them, showing them what was truly important. Once again, Jesus is an example of the discipline that we truly deserve—should we not thank the Father for sending a Servant to suffer in our stead? We should and must accept God’s tender discipline in the light of his infinite graciousness to a people so undeserving.

Lastly, God uses the trials of life to sanctify and purify his people. While some of the Christians in Rome were spared, others were tortured and had all their worldly goods torn from them. Augustine points out, “‘…but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition…’”³ By this hard providence, the Lord was sparing them from lust and greed, and giving them a new perspective on this life. By giving them hardships, God sanctified them, which made them all the more loving and patient when their fellow countrymen persecuted them later. “Whate’er my God ordains is right: here shall my stand be taken; though sorrow, need, or death be mine, yet am I not forsaken…”⁴ Indeed, God will never forsake us; he does what is best for us, even though our feeble human minds may not grasp his work if sanctification. We must imitate Christ, the perfect One, the Suffering Servant, in this matter. Just as he endured with patience all trials (even though there was no need for Him to be sanctified), we, as His people, should live and accept with all humility, the trials God has given us. For His glory and our sanctification, the Father sends trials into our everyday lives.

Some scoffers may question God’s goodness by pointing out that His people are allowed to suffer. How could such a “good” and “holy” God allow such evil? The answer is simply this: it may seem like evil and a curse to us at times, but it is only God’s loving discipline and sanctification. A true Christian should be able to say, “The hard providences in my life though they may seem evil to me at times, are meant for my good. I accept them with all humility from his loving hands.” The only thing which determines whether the trial is for good or evil is the attitude which the sufferer chooses to take.

Still others may question whether God is being “fair” when he decides to punish his own. After all, these Christian have decided to put their faith in him, and, in light of that, he should treat them with love. Firstly, if the basis of the Christian’s relationship with God is “if I do good to you then you do good to me” then he is not a true Christian. This is merit by works, and we, a sinful people can do nothing good without the help of God’s Holy Spirit. We cannot even believe in him without his help. Secondly, if God was truly “fair”, we would all be damned. Period. If one looks at God’s actions from that perspective, He is full of loving grace. He is gracious, no matter what. He gives us love; He gave us His own Son for a sacrifice to atone for our egregious crimes. Would not we rather have grace than fairness?

Now, after this journey of thought, the same three concepts arise in our mind: through the trials in our everyday lives God displays his love and faithful mercies, he firmly disciplines us; and he sanctifies and purifies us all through the person and work of Christ, the Suffering Servant. Why was he called the Suffering Servant? Because he gave us his all…for us, he was “despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”⁵ Yes, we esteemed him not. We thought he was a crazy fanatic. Indeed, we were blind to the daedal depths of his love and the intensity of his suffering. Now, through the working of his spirit, our minds can now scratch the surface of this painful love. This new understanding should affect our lives in the most drastic way possible—we must accept with thanksgiving every trial which God lovingly ordains for us. Christ will give us the strength we need from his own abundance, just as he promised “he [would] not let you be tempted beyond your ability…”⁶  Should we not put our complete unquestioning trust in this redivivus Savior who suffered so much for us?

Deidre’s phone rang again. “Well,” Mr. Taylor said, impatiently, “Aren’t you going to answer it? This is a rather inconvenient time, but get it over with.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Deidre, biting her lip. “Hello, this is Deidre Summers speaking. May I help you?”

“Oh my goodness, Deidre, I thought you’d never pick up… this is me, your Aunt Melissa!  Somethin’ awful has just happened to your brother down in Haiti on that confounded mission trip. It’s all over the news; Haiti has just had a 7.0 earthquake! Can you hear me Deidre? Your mom wants you to fly down there and meet them at the Port-au-Prince airport.”

Deidre stood up, shocked. Her baby brother, Drew, was down in the middle of that earthquake? “Yes, Aunt Melissa. Tell mom I’ll be down there right away.” After her Aunt hung up, Deidre looked on her news page and found that the damage was indeed great. She began to buy a ticket on the next plane. “Mr. Taylor, I need to leave right now. I’m sorry about the inconvenience.”

The next day…Deidre was with her worried parents as they searched the rubble of Port-au-Prince for Drew. The sun beat down on them, making it hard work. Finally, Deidre sat down to tie her shoelace. “Why does God let things like this happen,” she thought, angrily. As this thought crossed her mind, she heard a thin voice behind her, singing, “Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so, little ones to Him belong, we are weak, but He is strong…” Deidre turned. It was a small, malnourished girl, with tears in her big eyes. She was rocking her dead mother.

Deidre sat down next to her. “How can you sing that song after all of this?” She pointed to the destruction.

“Because, m’am, it be true.”

1.  Augustine’s The City of God, pp4

2. Hymn, “Oh Love that Will Not Let Me Go”

3. Augustine’s The City of Go, pp13

4. Hymn, “Whate’er My God Ordains is Right”

5. Isaiah 53:3, ESV

6. 1 Corinthians 10:13, ESV