My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; and by night, but I have no rest. Yet you are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they trusted and were not disappointed.
When we suffer, we can become confused about God’s love for us. Author and Bible teacher Randy Alcorn says this about suffering in his tremendously insightful book, 90 Days of God’s Goodness: Daily Reflections That Shine Light on Personal Darkness. “A lot of bad theology inevitably surfaces when we face suffering. When people lose their faith because of suffering, it suggests a weak or nominal faith that didn’t account for or prepare them for evil and suffering. Any faith not based on the truth needs to be lost – the sooner, the better.”
Think About It
When we are in the throes of excruciating pain – whether that pain is emotional or physical, we are looking for relief (and for answers). As Christians, we understand that God never wastes our pain and suffering. Throughout the Bible God tells us that He uses it for our good and His glory. But knowing that spiritual principle intellectually doesn’t alleviate our pain in any of its forms. We have to wrestle with its implications.
Let’s be honest. In the midst of our deepest sorrow and suffering, our lack of solid biblical truth as it pertains to life on this sinful planet can render us confused and start us spiraling down into the abyss of unbelief. How so?
God is Lord of All
Too often we have created a god of our own making. We mistakenly have created a god who delivers exactly what we want and how we want it. It’s often been said that some believers will follow Christ only as far as He delivers to them their wants and demands. This is not the Christ of the Bible. Jesus plainly told his followers that when they become his disciples, they must be willing to die to themselves daily.
This death to self is all encompassing. Meaning that God will allow us to suffer in this temporal world. We are not given the choice of when, where, or how this suffering manifests itself. What we do know, however, is that God assures us that as we turn to Him in our despair that He will be near to us. He promises to sustain us. As this psalm states, “To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they trusted and were not disappointed.”
Alcorn closes his devotional with this thought, “If your faith is based on lack of affliction, it’s on the brink of extinction and is only a frightening diagnosis or a shattering phone call away from collapse. Token faith will not survive suffering. Nor should it.”
Questions for Personal Reflection:
- Take time to consider what you believe about God. Is your god the God of the Bible or a construct of your own making?
- As you consider any present season of suffering, do you find comfort and strength knowing that God will use your pain to conform you into the image of Christ?
- Are you prepared to enter any potential future suffering confident that you can trust God to carry you through it?
- If not, how might deeper study into God’s Word equip you to face whatever lies ahead? Consider memorizing this passage of Scripture from the psalms. “To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they trusted and were not disappointed.”
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