Suffering. It’s a big topic. It’s also a topic with which we are all too familiar. Sometimes the suffering is acute and purposeful. Sometimes it is prolonged and seemingly meaningless. Sometimes it’s a combination of the two. No matter. It is suffering.
After my fifth child was born, I remember pondering the topic of suffering. Not because of the all too familiar suffering involved with childbirth but because of the acute suffering of my new little one. Just a few hours into her life, and she was receiving frequent heal pokes because of jaundice. Each time I heard the little screams from the poke, I had two thoughts. One, “This will soon be over, honey.” Two, “Here little one is your first introduction to the pain and suffering of life on this fallen planet.” So, even though she did not consciously take it in, as her mother, I realized that my instinct to protect my little one from harm would only go so far. She was going to experience suffering, and this was only the beginning.
At least her suffering was purposeful and short lived. Many times it is not so. Often the suffering is prolonged. It leaves us asking many questions. Why do we have to go through such heart wrenching pain? Why does the pain have to be so deep that it seems to reach into our toes? Why does it have to come wave after wave? When will we see the end? When will we see the purpose? We might even wonder: Does God see? If we are sure that He sees, does He care to intervene? Not all the questions are pretty.
All these deep and abiding questions, questions asked by saints down through the ages, have answers. Of late though, I have been thinking about Christ’s response to His own suffering. As we deal with the significant fall out from mold toxicity in our family, I am reminded of our Lord’s suffering response in the garden of Gethsemane.
The Gospels record Jesus’ pleas to the Father to let the cup of crucifixion pass. “‘Father if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.’ And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him” (Luke 22:42-43). We know from the other gospels that He prayed this prayer three times. Even after the angel’s appearance, note that His suffering prevailed. Verse 44 says, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Christ, the perfect God-man, asked for reprieve from the suffering at hand. This request was not wrong. Suffering itself is bad. We should ask for release. However, note that the suffering did not immediately pass. Instead, Christ gave himself up to the will of the Father to direct all things along His ordained timeline. Obviously, this did not make things easy. Christ’s sweat became as drops of blood- intense suffering.
All this helps me to put suffering in context of God’s superintending goodness. While it doesn’t make all the emotional or physical ramifications disappear immediately, it does give comfort in the midst of the suffering process. If my Lord gave Himself up to the will of the Father, I can rest in my Father’s will also.
I guess I’ll sum up with this. Suffering is real. Suffering is hard. We can seek reprieve and at the same time rest in the Father’s guiding hands – even as we wait. That is the tension that we live in as we tread upon this fallen planet.
We can also remember that one day, “He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes….” Revelation 21:4.
I guess you could say that God will turn the very real, very tart lemons of suffering to the very best of lemonade – one day.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
