OUR PERCEPTION OF OUR SUFFERING
The Psalmist, in Ps 42:6-7, was overwhelmed by the avalanche
of troubles that had befallen him:
A LITTLE MORE PERSPECTIVE
Notice how the psalmist saw his sufferings:
A FELLOWSHIP OF SUFFERING
CONCLUSION
When the patriarch Jacob appeared before Pharaoh of Egypt, he
was asked by the latter how old he was. Instead of a simple numeric
response, Jacob's answer in Gen 47:9 was: "..the days
of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty
years; few and evil have been the days of the years
of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years
of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."
We are not told of Pharaoh's reaction to these words, but it is
interesting to note Jacob's summation of what we would certainly
consider a long life: his curt assessment was that it had
been short and evil. This perspective no doubt seemed somewhat
of a reality for him.
6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I
will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights
of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. 7 Deep calls unto deep
at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have
gone over me.
For him, the immediate reality was that this torrent of distress
that he described as "waves and breakers" from God was
sweeping over him.
Being human, it is indeed very easy to see little beyond our immediate
suffering.
In 1 Thes 4:13 the apostle Paul told the Thessalonians,
and therefore tells us also, that when we grieve because of our
sufferings, as we all do, not to do so "like the rest of
men, who have no hope." Surely, grief is grief , we may
respond, so what did Paul mean by these words?
Let us look at how Paul was able to analyse his sufferings with
godly perspective:
2 Cor 4:8 We are hard pressed on every side,
yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed
During the enormity of these particular trials he was describing,
Paul, if he had allowed his human perspective and emotions to
prevail, could well have considered himself crushed, in despair,
forsaken and destroyed.
However, for the apostle Paul, as for all of God's saints, there
is the realisation that our sufferings are a part of the purpose
of God being worked in our lives and that the hand of God is with
us even in our anguish.
Ps 71:20 You, who have shown me great and severe
troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the
depths of the earth. 21 You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.
David also saw God's perspective in his trials and sufferings:
Ps 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with
me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
David knew that the rod of the Good Shepherd was always there
to count, guide, rescue and protect him or any of God's suffering
sheep and that His staff was ever a source of support and guidance
in trials. While keeping God's law does spare His people the
curses the world suffers because of disobedience, we all need
to remember, as we are here reminded, that it is comfort,
not immunity, from troubles and suffering that is offered
to us, until that suffering is removed. This is how it has always
been, and will always be, for true Christians. Are we perhaps
so used to hearing that Rev 3:10 is telling us that we
will suffer absolutely none of the tribulation to come upon the
world that we could never even countenance the possibility that
God is telling us that He will see us safely through this
hour of great trial also as opposed to us not undergoing
it with the rest of humanity?
We all know that the Scriptures tell us that all who are called
to live a godly life will suffer trials, even though, certainly
from God's perspective, we do, as Peter notes in 1 Pet 5:10,
suffer only "a little while". This is our Christian
experience. Notice what the apostle Peter tells us about this
in the latter part of 1 Pet 5:9:
1 Pet 5:9 ...knowing that the same sufferings are experienced
by your brethren in the world.
As saints of God, we have this common experience of suffering.
Jesus Christ, too, shared in this. Can we grasp the fact that
the perfect, sinless, obedient Son of God "learned [further]
obedience by the things which He suffered", as Heb 5:8
tells us?
The New Testament in fact depicts this common experience of suffering
by God's people as a fellowship of suffering, for
instance in:
Phil 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed
to His death
STRENGTHENING ONE ANOTHER
As Paul further describes what happens during the process of God's
children sharing this fellowship of suffering with the Son of
God and with each other, we can delineate three ways in which
this whole experience strengthens the body of believers:
2 Cor 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound
in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 6
Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and
salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings
which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for
your consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope for you
is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers
of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
2 Cor 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all
comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the
comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Is this not the true nature of Christian fellowship: a sharing
with others what we ourselves have been given by God?
We are told in Rom 12:15 to "mourn with those who
mourn", extending this godly consolation - and many of us
have seen many touching examples of this in the Church during
periods of great trial.
Christ's words of gratitude for His disciples in Luke 22:28
[where alone these words of His are recorded!] is truly demonstrative
of this point:
Luke 22:28 "But you are those who have continued with
Me in My trials.
That the very Son of God could express such appreciation for
the limited human efforts of these friends of His should indeed
be a salutary lesson for us all and should motivate us to want
to support each other much more through difficult times.
James 5:11 (NRS) Indeed we call blessed those who showed
endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have
seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and
merciful.
As we know, the "purpose of the Lord" was to perfect
Job, just as it is to perfect us.
Then notice what else follows when we remember that the hand of
God is always at work in our lives:
1 Pet 4:13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake
of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may
also be glad with exceeding joy.
We can rejoice, not because we are going through painful trials
(which were Christ's lot, and which are also the lot of each of
our brethren), but because we realise that through this Christian
fellowship of suffering, God's purpose for us is further advanced.
In our sufferings, God's power "is made perfect in our weakness"
(2 Cor 12:9)
Ours indeed is a fellowship of suffering. As we continue to go
through this let us ensure that we all understand God's purpose
for us in our troubles and that we therefore are also able to
offer to one another the same personal, tender comfort that God
so lovingly extends to us.