Life is full of trials and tribulations all of differing degrees.  

• The combat veteran who loses one or more limbs in combat deals with the pain of the injury and then learning to live a new life without the use of those limbs.
  
• The parents who lose a child deal with the immediate pain of loss and then the years of dealing with the loss.
  
• Watching that loved one slowly slip away to the point they no longer recognize you.
  
• There’s a saying, cancer doesn’t hurt at least not at first.  Many people do not know they have cancer until it shows up in bloodwork or a scan.  In many instances the treatments of cancer and the side effects are worse than the cancer itself.

No one experiences life without suffering.  Death, divorce, business failures, job loss, illness, and addictions all bring disruption and distress.  

Webster’s Dictionary 1828 defines suffering as follows:
The bearing of pain, inconvenience or loss; pain endured; distress,
loss or injury incurred; as sufferings by pain or sorrow; sufferings by want or by wrongs.

When suffering occurs from the result of our own choices, it’s easier to understand.  The suffering is still painful but at least we know the “why”. For example, a man who had a drinking problem for many years and numerous DUI’s eventually had a court ordered interlock-ignition-breathalizer system installed into his car. The car would not start until he breathed into it showing he was sober. His wife warned him this was the last straw. She would not go through another relapse with him. He was sober for several years but decided it was ok to take that one drink at a thanksgiving dinner. He thought he had the will power to handle it. That one drink turned into another drink after work on Fridays and then a few more drinks over the weekends and eventually he lost his sobriety again. It cost him his wife. He eventually did overcome the drinking years later and to his credit he took full responsibility for wrecking his marriage.

But what about the suffering we experience from intentional or unintentional occurrences that are beyond our control?

Nothing happens without God’s permission.  

Does God cause us to suffer out of punishment? I think not.  God would not give us “free will” only to punish us for choosing a life that He does not approve of.  God does not punish us, we either choose Him or we don’t.  What an amazing creator who creates beings in His own image and yet gives them complete autonomy in choosing how to live their lives.

But He obviously allows suffering whether it is self-induced or external.  If our creator, allows the suffering and we truly believe our heavenly Father loves us, then we must also believe there is a purpose in it. 

If we truly place all of our love, trust and confidence in the Lord, is the “why” really important?  Once we ask the “why” our focus turns inward toward ourselves.  “Why is this happening to me” is a typical non-believer reaction.  “I have this suffering and I want it to stop now”.

Believers understand that it is God who is the center of this world. It is our creator who is the heart of all that is.  His will be done on earth as it is in heaven; will happen whether you accept it or not.  If God is allowing our suffering, then it is for a good reason.  

The mature believer does not ask “the why”. We accept that God has His reasons. However, a believer may certainly ask the “what”.  What is God’s purpose for allowing our suffering?

The difference between “why and what” is your focus.  If you are looking inward, if your attention is on yourself then you are going to be asking “the why”. Why is this happening to me? Why do I deserve this? If you are obsessed with yourself and your circumstance, you are going to want to know why. Think about it this way,  if your focus is on yourself, then how can you be turned towards God? If you are not turned towards God, then you cannot be asking Him “what” is His purpose. If you are not turned towards God and filled with His light, you will not have His Holy Spirit helping to comfort you and guide you through your suffering.

Easier said than done.  

Several years ago, I suffered a botched surgery and found myself in an emergency room a few days later with excruciating pain.  The pain medication barely took the edge off.  Yes, I was focused on my pain and not really asking the “what”.  In fact, I didn’t even care about the why. I was pleading with God, “please LORD, either take away the pain or take me now”.  This went on for hours in the hospital and I complained bitterly reminding Him that just 2 weeks before; He mercifully took a family friend by way of a sudden heart attack. It was not fair that He was allowing me to suffer.  I was ready, “take me” I pleaded.  It wasn’t until 12-hours into that nightmare, when I finally remembered nothing happens without God’s permission. I surrendered and changed my approach asking Him to give me the strength to deal with the pain.  The pain eventually subsided but it was a rough several months until it was later discovered that the cancer surgeon had accidentally cut through my right ureter while harvesting lymph nodes. I ended up losing my right kidney.

Friends and family encouraged me to sue the hospital and the surgeon. It was a very big boondoggle by one of the top hospitals and renown surgeons in the country. In addition, their post treatment and misdiagnosing my trauma as an infection was definitely suspect. But I distinctly remember asking God to watch over me while walking in the hospital the morning of the original surgery. I thought, if He allowed it to happen then there had to be a purpose. Legal action was not going to get my kidney or time of suffering back. I placed the hospital, the surgeon, my kidney and my suffering at the foot of Jesus’ cross because I know, nothing happens without God’s permission. I trust in Him!

Perhaps we can look to Solomon’s advice in Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)…
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths”.

What I hear Solomon saying is that it is futile to try to use human reasoning to understand God’s will. But if we are turned towards Him, and submit ourselves to His will; then He will bless us with His Holy Spirit and guide us according to His purpose. But that comes with one little caveat that is very hard for us humans to accept, it always happens on His timing and not ours.

Perhaps it is how we respond that matters to God
when suffering comes to us.

There are many scriptures in the Bible that speak to human suffering. My favorite is the story of Job. When we study the Book of Job we learn that we do not fully need to understand God’s will in our life, in order to remain faithful to Him while we are suffering. The story of Job tells us of how God was very pleased with him describing Job as a “blameless and upright” man. Satan responds to God by stating what would you expect from a human who enjoys Your favors and suffers no struggles. Satan asks for permission to test Job in order to show God that Job’s faith will fail when he faces adversity. God grants Satan permission and Satan makes Job’s life a catastrophic nightmare.

We live in a fallen world. Suffering is one of the many characteristics of a fallen world. If you know of someone who is suffering please pray for them. I was fortunate to have many people praying for me. But I also have a few “religious” loved ones who think legalistically when it comes to their faith. They were like Job’s friends wondering if I was being punished by God. I don’t blame or judge them because in my former life, I thought the same way they did. Fortunately, I had already been saved by this time and I knew God does not work that way. If we suffer, He may allow it but He never causes it. Similar to Job, I did not handle my suffering perfectly. We are all human, right? Besides, God knows our hearts!

Just because we don’t feel God’s presence,
it doesn’t mean He is not there.
Always be turned towards Him and be filled with His light.

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