continued from part 2

As we learn to discern what kind of suffering we, and others we encounter, are experiencing, we are able to help root out sin in our life and the lives of those we serve. We can also serve fellow Christians so that they would experience comfort. In this way, suffering provides opportunities for us to minister to those in need, and curiously share the comfort we have received during our sufferings.

On this point, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort."

Sadly, what too often occurs when someone is suffering is that they consider whether God is either sovereign or good. Those who are hard Calvinists leaning toward determinism are prone to retain the sovereignty of God while diminishing the goodness of God. The result is a cold view of a distant God who is possibly even the author of evil, which makes God a co-conspirator of evil and therefore the last person someone who is suffering would be inclined to run to for comfort. Those who are hard Arminians leaning toward Pelagianism are prone to downplay the sovereignty of God while retaining the goodness of God. The result is a false view of God who does not want suffering to occur, but is powerless to stop it and is therefore perhaps well intended but ill equipped and thus unhelpful. Sadly, when either the sovereignty or goodness of God is compromised, a hurting person is left without comfort or help because their pain and poor biblical sight distort their view of God. The Bible repeatedly reveals that God is both sovereign and good. For the Christian, this means that everything in life, including our suffering, either comes from or passes through his hand. Further, for the Christian, God uses it for our good.

It is this goodness of God that is often difficult for suffering people to believe. This is because suffering people are prone to ask the "why" question. The "why" question is dangerous because it puts the suffering person in a judge's chair and God on trial, where God must answer to them in a way that they deem sufficient in order to abdicate him from a verdict of some guilt in their eyes. As indicated with the fifteen categories of suffering, sometimes we can, if we are honest with ourselves and surrounded by godly counsel, see some reason(s) for our suffering. But other times it simply hurts and makes no sense to us.

Either way, the better question for suffering people to ask than the "why" question is the "who" question. The "who" question does not seek answers from God as much as it seeks God himself. The "who" question seeks to grow in deeper understanding of who God is because when we are suffering, what we need more deeply, passionately, and urgently than answers, even helpful biblical ones, is God.

As we ponder the sufferings of Jesus, parts of Scripture that, prior to our pain, we had read only casually become anchors for the soul. Examples include:

• Isaiah 53:3-4 "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows."


• John 11:35 "Jesus wept."


• Matthew 10:38 "And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."


• Romans 5:3-5 "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."


• Romans 8:16-18 "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."


• Philippians 1:29 "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake."


• Philippians 3:7-11 "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."


• 2 Timothy 2:3 "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."


• Hebrews 2:18 "For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."


• Hebrews 5:8 "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered."


• 1 Peter 2:19-21 "For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."


• 1 Peter 2:23 "When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly."


• 1 Peter 3:14 "But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled."


• 1 Peter 4:1 "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking."


• 1 Peter 4:13 "But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed."


• 1 Peter 4:15-16 "But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name."
  
• 1 Peter 4:19 "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."


• 1 Peter 5:9-10 "Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."

In closing, for those who are suffering, Jesus is a God whom you can speak to, run to, and walk with. Unlike any other false god offered by any other religion, Jesus did not sit back in his heavenly ease and give us mere counsel for our suffering from a safe distance. Instead, he entered into human history to identify with us. He was tempted. He was rejected by his family. He was poor and homeless. He was abandoned by his friends. He was betrayed by his disciple. He was falsely accused by his enemies. He was falsely tried and condemned. He was beaten beyond recognition. He bled, suffered, and died in shame. And he lives today as a sympathetic high priest who gives grace to the hurting and promises justice to the unrepentant. He has gone to prepare a place for us and he left God the Spirit as our Comforter until he returns.

On that day, the blood of evildoers will fill the streets and Jesus in all his glory will be revealed--the sun and moon will shrink in his presence--and his kingdom will be established in glory over all. On that day our faith will be sight. On that day he will work out all things for the good of those who love him. On that day he will use even that which was intended for evil for good. On that day all our questions will be answered and all our hopes realized. On that day he will wipe every tear from our eyes and we who belong to him will rejoice. Until then, we rejoice in him and that day, until we see him on that day.