Lessons from the strokes of love

 

I remember as a new believer once asking the pastor of our church why God allowed suffering in a very specific case. He had an aunt in her eighties who was in terminal phase of some disease (I can’t remember what), in great and continuing pain. I asked him why God allowed such suffering in such a godly saint who had served Him faithfully for six or seven decades. Why not just take her home? His response was simple: “Intimacy with Christ.”

We can look at Job, who asked God why he was suffering, and asked for a chance to argue his case before God (that he was being unfairly punished without a hearing). Of course we know that Job’s trials were the result of conversations between God and Satan about Job’s faith being merely mercenary. Ultimately Job cursed the day of his birth, implying that with the nature of existence being like this (suffering without a cause or even an explanation), he did not want to be part of it. And then in the end, God didn’t answer Job’s questions. Instead, He simply pointed to the wonders of creation and asked Job if he could do any of these things, thereby making it obvious that Job was in no position to judge what He did.

All of this came to a head when I was diagnosed with cancer, endured two operations, and went through six weeks of oncology radiation. I had avoided behaviors that increase the risk of cancer throughout my life (smoking, drinking, etc,). I had tried to serve the Lord faithfully for the last fifty years. It didn’t seem fair. When I took this to God in prayer, His answer was simple. When I accept that I can trust Him even when I don’t understand what He is doing, then I will have confidence that I am His even when I don’t feel that way. “When you can’t see His hand, trust His heart” becomes “the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out” (John 6:37).

Even Jesus endured suffering, but with a profound purpose: the redemption of mankind. He was always in constant communion with His Father, until that moment on the cross when the Father turned His face away. (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34) The lesson here was not for Jesus to learn, but for us. The cost of sin is separation from God.

Each of us goes through trials in life, some of our own making, some due to others’ actions, and some the vicissitudes of life. We live in a fallen world. The important thing is that we continually seek the Lord to hear directly from Him what lesson He is trying to teach us, in any situation, whether it is a trial or not. But would we learn some of these lessons and take them seriously if they were not taught with the strokes of a loving but firm Father? (Hebrews 12:5-6)