By: Caleb Friedrich for his grandma, Dian Ritter Enright
Written on February 28, 2021
Published on March 7, 2021 in Monday’s Pub in the “Time For A Faith Lift” column
Last weekend, our family went to visit our grandma for the first time since her fall. My brother Joshua, my sister Noel, and I attempted to sled, but much of the snow had melted. However, my brother and I did manage to build a snowman. When we returned to visit Grandma the next weekend, all that was left was two tiny clumps of snow and two long sticks which had once been arms.
We were able to visit with our uncle, Chris Ritter, who graciously spent the week helping to take care of Grandma. This past week was the first time that Uncle Chris was able to meet with great-nephew Zion. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic we have not been able to get all of our family together to see the baby. He will turn one year old in March, and we hope that this year of his life will lead to more meetings and visits with his family members.
When we drove to Ullin to visit Grandma, we drove out to see the construction on the new Cache Chapel UMC building. Progress is being made. Although my family and I live in Missouri, we have made many wonderful memories at Cache Chapel. We have attended and volunteered at vacation Bible schools, enjoyed many great dinners in the church basement, and have loved taking part in the annual Cache Chapel Christmas service. It is always a blessing to worship with my relatives and with my fellow members of the family of God, and we look forward to worshipping in the new building.
Given the difficulty that my grandma has undergone in the past few weeks, as well as the struggles we have all experienced over the past year, we have been challenged to look at the suffering in the world and try to make some sense of it. I want to share two Christian reflections on suffering that I hope will be a help. This is by no means meant to be a complete commentary on the subject, rather, I pray that these will be words of wisdom and hope as we live in a world that is difficult and troubled.
1. God is with us in suffering.
As Christians, we do not have a God who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses and struggles (Hebrews 4:15.) Unique among the religions of the world, Christianity claims that God experienced the suffering, rejection, torture, and pain of mankind firsthand in Jesus Christ, who is fully-God and fully-man. We may never know why God allows specific times of suffering in each of our lives, but by looking at the cross we know what the reason is not. God is not allowing suffering because He is distant and remote from it; He experienced it firsthand. God is not allowing suffering because He does not love us; look at the cross and see what lengths He went through for love.
Jesus is Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:22-23.) He suffered with us as a man, and now He is with us in our suffering through His Spirit (Romans 8:26-27.) The prophet Isaiah called Jesus both the “Man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3) and the “Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6.) It is only because of the suffering of Jesus that we can know God and experience the comfort of His love (Philippians 4:7.)
2. Our Suffering Will Produce a Greater Glory
Christians not only have the comfort of God being with us in our current suffering, but we also have the hope of resurrection. Unlike other worldviews which say that there is no life after death, or there is a disembodied All-soul, or we will receive the consolation for our good works and moral efforts, the Bible shows that there will be restoration in the new heaven and the new earth. Not only will all suffering and evil be undone and repaired, but our eventual glory and joy will somehow become even better for it.
To quote Dr. Tim Keller (who in turn quotes J.R.R. Tolkien):
Just after the climax of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings, Sam Gamgee discovers that his friend Gandalf was not dead (as he thought) but alive. He cries, “I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself! Is everything sad going to come untrue?” The answer of Christianity to that question is – yes. Everything sad is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost.
This does not mean that Christians are so focused on the future glory that we are ignorant or indifferent to the suffering of the world. We are called to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15.) We are called to comfort others in their suffering and show the love of the Comforter by working to relieve the suffering of those around us and working to end injustice and suffering in the world (2 Corinthians 1:4). Ultimately, Christians have the hope that God will one day set all things right.
God is with us now in our suffering; He will work through us to stop the suffering of others; and one day, He will set all things right.
Thought for the week: “They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.” – C. S. Lewis