Suffering

This weekend I had the pleasure of visiting my 91 year old grandpa. I hadn’t seen him for over 2 years since he lived 10hours away. I didn’t have too much of an opportunity to really talk with him as he wanted to sleep all day, and didn’t have much interest on staying awake to chat. So while Grandpa was sleeping, it provided me an opportunity to meet some other people who are living at the same care facility that he is staying at.

So, God introduced me to Louie. Louie is in his early 80’s and his wife Adelaide is also at the same facility and she is suffering from severe Dementia and doesn’t remember him. When I first started talking to him, he asked me “Why do you care about me? Why do people have to suffer? Why can’t they just die?” We started talking about how his wife is dying, but she’s been in this same state-of-being for about 3years now. They had just moved from another care facility where they didn’t have enough medical help to properly care for his wife.

With tears in his eyes, he asked me why they have to keep living, when he is just somewhere awaiting his time to die. Why pay the money? Why do we (meaning me) pay for him to wait to die? These questions really hit me hard.

On my drive to Wisconsin, I had listened to this great sermon on 1 Samuel 19 & suffering. Basically, the ultimate question was: Is God only at work when things are going well? Sometimes it certainly seems that way. When things don’t seem to be going well, or when I am in the midst of a terrible struggle, it seems that God must not be working in my life. While I was listening to this sermon, this whole thought process was blown out of the water. Jesus suffered. He suffered in ways that seem so unbearable. So the question is, if God only works when things are going well, does that mean that God was not at work when Christ was crucified? Of course not! Talk about the greatest display of God working! It brought me to a new perspective on verses such as:

· Romans 8:17 - Now if we are
children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we
share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his
glory.
· Luke 24:26 - Did not
the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his
glory?"
· Philippians 1:29 -
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him,
but also to suffer for him,
·
James 1:2 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many
kinds,

These verses talk about the fact that it is necessary to suffer here on earth, just as Christ did, so that we can share Christ’s glory in heaven, too. Many times I’ve thought that suffering is really experiencing pain on behalf of Christ, and that true suffering is really only what happens to people who are proclaiming the Gospel of Christ in some other country. But the reality is that we all suffer, and that God is working through those times.

So as Louie was talking to me about his pain, this concept of suffering came to mind. I was able to share with Him the message of hope of Jesus despite the struggle of his situation & his wife’s situation. He struggled also with knowing what the right message to believe in is. It was truly humbling to see.

Friends, I am not sure what struggles you all endure in, whether they seem big or small in your eyes. But know that God is working to establish HIS kingdom through this suffering, so that we can direct our eyes to Jesus. If you think of it, please pray for Louie. Pray that God’s truth will be clear and evident in his heart & that healing would come quickly for Adelaide.