"Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me,
This I recall in my mind, Therefore I have hope.
The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.'"
- Lamentations 3:19-24
If you have been keeping up on my blog, you would realize that I haven't posted in a while now. Like many of you life is busy for the Major family right now as we are going through the process of buying our first home. If you have tried to buy a house recently as well you will know that the market is very interesting right now in many places, and in Michigan the market is on an upswing and houses are being bought up like crazy. On top of this I've experienced what seems to be all the new home buyer frustrations, and it has been incredibly discouraging. But this small issue that I've been having in my personal life, has happened simultaneously with a bunch of other issues that have risen up.
Around the same time that I was feeling pretty downtrodden and discouraged by this whole issue, I found out about the problems that were happening in the lives of those around me. I realized I knew people who were trying to adopt kids and were being denied, trying to foster kids and being rejected, and people who were in remission finding out that there was a possibility that their cancer was back. I had a student whose uncle committed suicide, which reminded me of my cousin who had done the same almost a year ago. One of my coworkers had an uncle who passed away, and she said to me "is there every a time where you wish that life would just slow down, because it is amazing what can change in a week." An interesting thought.
With all this heartache happening all around me, the issue of faith in hard times came up, and I was reminded of a book that I once read, which is significant because I do not read many books. The book was by Randy Alcorn and was called If God is Good with the subtitle of "Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil." In this book, Alcorn addressed the same issue that has been addressed over and over again and the one that I am going to address now: If God is in control, why do people suffer?
When we approach this issue, I think the best starting point is to admit that there are a lot of things that we do not understand. I don't know why God allowed my cousin to take her own life, or my other cousin to die in a car crash while he was still young, or why some of my friends were sexually abused as children, or why that girl that I grew up with in church was raped. I don't know why and even when I consult Scripture and cry out to God I don't get answers, but what I do get is the fact that I'm allowed to be upset and I'm allowed to ask questions. One of the best things that I have ever been told is this: "It is okay to be angry with God, He can handle it." Think of all the times in the Bible when life was terrible and someone cried out and questioned God, and were not told it was wrong.
But until we understand the love of God, we won't understand that while there are things that happen that suck and we don't get an answer to that all important "Why?" question, God suffers with us. What hurts us, hurts Him. Does that provide us with comfort? It provides me with comfort! For many who suffer great loss and are in the midst of grieving the best comfort they ever receive is someone to come along next to them and cry with them! When words fail to comfort, let your tears do the talking.
In the midst of suffering, for those who follow Jesus Christ I am reminded of Romans 8:28 that "God causes all things to work together FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, who are called according to HIS purpose" (NASB). Is this a passage of comfort? Not in the moment. At my time of hardship I don't care about what the future holds or the good that can come out of it, all I feel is the pain of searing loss. But after the dust settles and we can begin processing what has happened, we need to be reminded that God is still on His throne and He still loves us and He still is in control whether we acknowledge it or not. At that time we have two choices: Run FROM God, or Run TO God.
When hard times come, I pray that my attitude will become that of humility, and I will be able to ask the question, "God, what are you trying to teach me through all this?" no matter how small or great the hardship is.
"We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
- Romans 5:3-5
