Articles
Master, The Tempest is Raging
Recently, a hurricane barreled through the south-eastern portions of the country killing 230, and another two weeks later has crossed the peninsula of Florida killing up to 20 more, not to mention the de-struction of billions of dollars in damage. Even still, there is talk of the possibility of yet another in the near future. It is enough to make even the most faithful wonder, why does God let things happen like this? Why, if you’re going to allow back-to-back major storms, would you not ensure that they did not strike some of the same decimated areas, compounding the despair of many? Many will ask about a loving, all-powerful God in such times.
Within 24 hours of this publication’s earli-est availability, most of you will have al-ready observed once again the Lord’s Sup-per in the coming week. During our ob-servance we will recall His suffering, His willingness to suffer, and the benefits of His suffering.
Strange, isn’t it, that it has never hap-pened in any of the Suppers we have ob-served, that any one of us have looked up to God and asked: How could you have let
this happen to Him? Why didn’t you do anything to stop it? Or, what kind of God would allow it? We know exactly what kind of God allowed the terrible cruelty and injustice—”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… (Jn. 3:16).” And so, the grieving father asks, “Where was God when my son was dying? The answer to that question is: “The same place He was when His own Son was dying—very much in love with the one who suffered, and ready to use that suffering to His glory and for our growth.
How is it that we are so readily accepting of the role of suffering in Christ’s life, while being so short-sighted about the role suffer-ing may play in our own. I know we wouldn’t admit to it out-loud, but it’s almost as if Christ’s suffering is a bit more palatable to us than our own. There is something very wrong with that. We de-serve to suffer, He didn’t. Never become complacent about the outrage that is Christ’s suffering.
Of course, there is a difference between normal trials of life and suffering as a Christian, but one thing that is true of both is that God can use them to strengthen our character, our persever-ance, and hope (Rom. 5:2).
Instead of complaining faithlessly let us face all adversity in the same way that Jesus did. Jesus left us an example of suffering (1 Pet. 2) so let’s consider how He suffered, which is of much more importance than our understanding of why we may suffer.
His Footsteps:
1) He acknowledged sufferings in the future by mouth to His dis-ciples. He shared with them the reality of what He knew was coming. We likewise should prepare beforehand for what we know is coming at some point in life. Have you given any thought as to how you would respond in the face of real suffering? Do your children understand the unequivocal na-ture of your faith despite whatever life may bring? Is your re-action to even seemingly little annoyances in life consistent with the resolve of a man who has committed to be faithful even to death?
2) He prayed to the LORD for strength in the face of suffering. He “offered up prayers with loud cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death.” And yet, His intention was not to be saved from His purpose of suffering (Jn. 12:27), but to be brought through it. (Shall I not drink of the cup that the Father has given me to drink?” (Jn. 18:11)
3) He wasn’t all talk and no action. He wasn’t just “talking a big game” when He described His impending suffering to His disci-ples. He wasn’t “all talk” when He said, “Yet not My will but Yours be done.” He submitted to it and saw it through to the end at which point He said, “Father, into thy hands I commit My spirit. Here is the victory over suffering. Here is victory in the face of death. The Father had just given Him over into the hands of brutal men and the sufferer says: “You I trust with My spirit.” As Job said long ago: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. (13:15)
I think that what most of us want more than anything, even more than not to suffer, is meaning—not exemption, but explanation. If we can be convinced that there is a purpose in suffering, we are much more likely to endure. That is simply a matter of faith.
