Suffering 101

"How can I stand here with you, and not be moved by you?? Would you tell me, how could it be any better than this?.... You're all I want, you're all I need - you're everything - everything I need." - Lifehouse - Everything

Over the past couple of weeks I've been so blessed by not only Pastor Ryan at ECC's messages, but also Mark from Mars Hill. Both of them have spoken on the issues of suffering. God is GOOD and Faithful - that's all I can say.

I Peter 4:1-11 speaks specifically to how we, as Christians, are to live in our suffering - seeing the eternal goal and not the earthly misery. The world will heap insults on us, they will persecute us, and they will even question our sanity when it comes to trials. How is it that we are able to get through the sufferings in life with our chins up and reliance on something unseen? There is a peace that surpasses all understanding, and it comes directly from the throne of grace, through Christ. It's unexplanable unless you experience it for yourself- unless you ask Christ to be the leader and light of your life, you cannot possibly imagine or experience the peace, joy, patience, and overwhelming love you experience in the midst of suffering. "for our light and momentary troubles are achieveing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes NOT on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal." - II Cor. 4:17-18

How are we even able to see suffering as "light and momentary"? Have you ever gone through a serious difficulty in your life -A divorce, abuse as a child, rape, a broken heart, or even the untimely death of someone you love? In the midst of the suffering, it's pure misery. Your heart is broken, you feel like you're being kicked when you're down and that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. However, isn't it amazing that when we look back at our life during those periods, they seem so distant and so small compared to the rest of our lives? I'm not suggesting that our problems are not real and they are not important. Quite the opposite- those trials in our life are creating for us character - building us into stronger people and making us wiser through them.

The difference is how we react to struggles. Many of us run to alcohol, relationships, shopping, food, drugs - anything to "get our mind off it" so we don't have to face the turmoil in our souls. These things become our functional saviors - the "gods" of our life that are supposed to take the pain away. Does it really help though? Does drinking more dull the pain? Does food really make the heartache go away? I'm going to wager that it doesn't - it just makes it worse because what we make our "god" we begin to worship - and addiction sets in far too easily. It's in the times of quiet desperation that we call out to God for protection, for guidance, for healing, and for grace.

But then there are the time that God doesn't answer us - or we start believing that He's not there or that he doesn't care. I found an amazing perspective on this during my study of John, specifically in the story of Lazarus in John 11. We've all heard verse 35 "Jesus wept", but as I read that for the 100th time over my life new light was shed on the power of this verse. Christ feels the agony that we feel. He empathizes and sympathizes with us. He know our hurt, it's just as real to Him as it is to us. He knows it so much that when we weep, he weeps with us. When we hurt, He hurts too. When we struggle, He feels the confusion and pain that we experience. He was fully human and is fully God. He understands our pain and hardships. He knows what it's like to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" - He weeps over our pain.

Our suffering is for our own good. Crazy? A little - but truthful? Indeed! God is more concerned about our character than our comfort, and He's going to make sure that our character shines through. He's refining us into people of grace, love, dignity, and strength. That we may be used for His eternal goal - that we may fix our eyes on Jesus throughout this life realizing that our time here is quick. We are like the morning fog, here for a moment and then gone. What are we going to do while we're here? Wallow in our grief or declare God's will and faithfulness as we walk through the pain?

So often it seems that not just one thing in our life goes wrong, but many. As Pastor Mark says "it's not one thing in my life that stings at a time - it's a swarm". So what do we do while we're suffering? And how do we encourage those that are suffering? Here's a few ideas from Mars Hill:

1. Go out to Jesus. So often we look to ourselves for answers, instead of crying out to God with our raw emotion and confusion for guidance and support. When we suffer we need to rely on Jesus to get us through, not ourselves - for if we look to the world or ourselves it only causes us to stumble and struggle all the more.

2. Go out to a new way of life. React to the situations of your life as Christ would. It's at these times in life that we need to really understand where our identity lies, and if it's not in Christ, then we're going to dig ourselves deeper into the hole of depression. Just because we suffer does not give us the right to sin, and we should surround ourselves with good friends that will call us out on the choices we're making -that we would be accountable to everything.

3. Go out to Community. Don't isolate yourself from others. Those that suffer the most need good, Christian friends to come along side them encouraging them, praying for them, and helping them through their time of struggle. Those that suffer are sometimes the hardest people to love - because it takes time and it takes reiteration to get them to stay on the path towards Christ. So open your home, your life, your schedule, and even your budget to love on those that need the support and care the most.

4. Go out to Ministry. People who suffer need to still feel needed. They need to help others in some way, and in most cases it's best to help someone who is going through the same thing we are. That we may share wisdom and insight with one another. So let those that suffer use their words if that is their gift to preach, teach, comfort and encourage; or use their service to show hospitality, love, and serve those that need it the most.

A few things to this list that I might add are:

1. Be Real with God and others. Share your feelings, tell God how you really feel. It's okay to be frustrated and confused, and it's okay to tell God that what's going on is not fair. Cry until you can cry no more. Talk it out until you can talk no more. Be real with others and share what's on your heart, so they may be in prayer for you.

2. Ask for Prayer. This is the hardest thing in the world for me to do. I'm always the one who's life is "okay", but it's really not. The truth is that we all need prayer. Ask those you trust to pray for your situation, to come along side you at the throne of Grace - bridging the gap of prayer.

3. Seek Advice from a mentor. Find someone you trust and value - who is like minded in Christ, and ask them to pray for you and give you any wisdom or insight into the problem you are facing. See if they know anyone who has walked down the same path as you, and gain the advice and wisdom of someone who's "been there".

And as Pastor Ryan said tonight, "The suffering will not last forever. What we crave is heaven, and those who believe will have it - forever."



The answer to this issue of suffering is that Christ needs to be our everything. With Christ all things are possible, without Him we are nothing. Cry out to Jesus in worship, in prayer, in everything you do, and He will meet you. He will guide you. He will be your portion. He is enough to carry us through anything. Trust God. Trust His plan for your life. Trust His will. Trust - and forever be changed.

AMEN! :-)