Suffering

For whatever reason, the issue of suffering has been on my mind a lot lately. Actually, it seems to be a reoccurring topic in my life during this whole summer. I started out the summer reading CS Lewis' work "The Problem of Pain". Since then, I've watched so many of those dear to me go through trials and tribulations. Or I've heard about people that I hardly know experience pain and suffering, and that would still pain me as much. When I would sit back and survey the whole situation, it was staggering (and it still is). And this got me wondering that very typical question - why? Maybe not so much as why God allows it to happen, or why it happens to good people, but why it all seems to happen at once. These people have enough battles to fight - why are there more?

And I'm forced to sit, minutes away or miles away, and simply watch and pray. I wish I was so much closer and that there was more than I could do. Of course, I realize that it's all up to God and I try my best to trust him, my hugs and words of encouragement surely couldn't ruin His grand scheme.

I also begin to take survey of my own life. I've been through all sorts of experiences, some wonderful, some painful. Is this supposed to be the eye of the tornado? Since my life isn't crashing in, am I just waiting for something to happen? Should I be bracing myself for another disaster? If things are so awful for those I know, things cannot stay safe for me very long.

But then the words of CS Lewis came to mind. (And if you read my last post, this quotation will be a repeat)

"The sacrifice of Christ is repeated, or re-echoed, among His followers in very varying degrees, from the cruelest martyrdom down to a self-submission of intention whose outward signs have nothing to distinguish them from the ordinary fruits of temperance and 'sweet reasonableness'."

We cannot judge others, nor ourselves, by the outward signs of suffering. The battles that Christ has given us are all different to the different individual. We are not all called to physical sufferings - for many, the internal tribulations are enough. We cannot wish for anything different.

I have also been reading through Ezra, and a verse particularly struck me out of the narration. After they rebuilt the temple of the Lord, it says that "no one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away" (Ezra 3:13). That got me thinking. The reason the noise was heard so far away was because there was both shouting and weeping. Both joy and sorrow. Perhaps that is how the body of Christ is to function - the message will get out louder, not when everyone is suffering, or when everyone is prospering, but when there is a balanced mix. And if that is true for the body, than it is true for our own lives.