My friend is on life support Pete!” These words, spoken by a dear friend and fellow Maverick business leader, came through a phone call late evening on Christmas day. His words sobered me, reminding me again of the reality of our vulnerability in a very broken world – even on a day usually meant for celebration.
Over the past few months my wife, Cathy, and I have been experiencing an increased level of “trial and suffering”. Significant health challenges and relationship pain are being faced by a number of family and friends very close to us. Much opportunity to pause, reflect and trust our El Shaddai….our all-sufficient-God-who-is-enough.
I fundamentally believe that, as Christ followers, one of the signs of maturity in Him is how we view and experience trial and pain – how we view and experience suffering.
This usually unspoken and unwelcomed topic is one that many often attempt to avoid. We vainly do our best to prevent it. We somehow believe the delusion that, if we just “manage” our lives and circumstances well, we will be exempt – we will somehow escape it. No matter what, this relentless thing called pain and suffering finds us all.
It finds you. It finds me.
God, in His word, is clear. Pain and suffering is inevitable. Not if, but when. It is part of the human condition.
It is actually a challenging experience to even write about it. To my point above – I don’t like it! I suspect you might not like it either.
Death, disease, broken families and relationships, loss, failure and deep disappointment have all been part of my own personal experience. And while I may not “like it”, I have seen our good God at work, growing character and faith… in my life and in the lives of so many men and women around me; right in the midst of the pain and suffering.
The apostle James guides us, with an invitation to live life well – to experience our faith-under-pressure as a good thing.
“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
My prayer is that these few quotes and verses will bolster your resolve to lead yourself and others well as you cultivate a kingdom-view of the inevitable reality of trial and suffering.
“We need to practice the presence of God before we get into suffering so we will be familiar with it when suffering comes.” Dallas Willard
“When we learn to move through suffering rather than avoid it, then we greet it differently. We become willing to let it teach us. We even begin to see how God can use it for some larger end.” Henri Nouwen
“…You have been called to suffer so that you would experience God’s comfort. You have experienced God’s comfort so that you can comfort others. As they receive God’s comfort through you, they can bring that comfort to others. Our suffering is not a gap in God’s love, as if the Devil crept in while the Lord’s head was turned.” Paul Tripp
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 1 Peter 5:10
Pain and suffering are an inevitable reality for you and me as we live and lead in His Kingdom. What is not inevitable is the despair and hopelessness that is experienced by many. Our capacity to know Christ and be known by Him, in the midst of pain and suffering, will be what guides us well through the inevitable.
A Deliberate Application:
- Reflect on James 1:2-4.
- How do you view pain and suffering?
- If you were listening to yourself talk about trial, suffering and pain…what would you hear?
- Is your conversation God focused or self focused?
- Choose to ask God to help you cultivate His view of the inevitable trial, pain and suffering you will experience.
- Invite your friends and family to engage in this conversation with you. They will need to learn how to engage in the “inevitable” too.
