A few posts ago we talked about why God allows suffering to happen. To recap what we said think about the following main points…..
- Just because you are a follower of Christ doesn’t mean that things will always go your way.
- Nothing can happen to us unless God allows it to happen.
- God’s ultimate purpose is for us to be more like Christ.
The question that we were left to meditate on was “is God worth following when nothing is going my way?” That is still such a tough question for me to asnwer. I want to say that I trust God wholeheartedly, but still I must make that choice everyday to put every single thing in His hands. It is not easy, but it is a deliberate choice–not a feeling.
Tragedy doesn’t make sense to us. It just doesn’t make sense that our parents would get divorced or that our best friend would be diagnosed with leukemia at such a young age. Pain does not make sense, but God will make it make sense for us. In time you will understand why you had to go through your storm.
Pain is not about God getting back at you for sinning. Pain is all about accepting Jesus Christ who has already paid the price that I fully deserve for my sins. You see, I am a sinner. It is only through the grace and mercy of Christ that I can walk away from death. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for my sins and for your sins. The whole point of pain is to see if we will accept Jesus’ gift that we can walk away from death. We can run into His arms of protection and security.
In life you will be tested. You will be tested materially, financially, physically, spiritually, through popularity, and by your family. But the most important challenge that we will face is in what we think of God and who He is. We want an “ordered” God who fits neatly into our worlds, but that is not how God is. We can never understand God! Job asked God many questions for Him to answer Him according to who He was, but you know what? In Job 38-42 God asked Job 70 questions and proved to Job that he could never understand God completely. The only thing that Job could do was worship God and love Him. Don’t try to “figure it all out,” just practice trusting.
“When belief in God becomes difficult the tendency is to turn from Him, but in heaven’s name to what?” ~G.K. Cherston
4. It is our job to get involved with what God is doing through our suffering. The question we must ask ourselves is “how can I get involved with the work of God in this situation?” not “what caused this suffering?”
In the brutal face of pain and suffering we will wither move towards God or away from Him. The choice is ultimately up to you.
