Salted with Suffering

Last night at RUF, Steve preached on suffering and how an all-good, omnipotent God could exist in a world of evil and pain. It was another hard, emotional message, because for all of us this is not just a theoretical, philosophical problem, but it is a tangible, daily reality of the world that we live in. Loved ones have cancer, addictions tear our hearts, children starve to death, families hate each other... yet God knows every hair on our heads, and governs all things to his good and perfect will. There are several partial reasons we can give as to why evil exists, and several things the Bible points to, but ultimately we must trust God and wait patiently for the day when all things sad will come untrue as Tolkien says and we proclaim with those who have endured terrible suffering at the hands of evil, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." (Rev. 15:3-4)

At the end of Genesis, as Joseph's brothers tremble before him in fear of his just wrath for selling him into a life of slavery, pain, and hardship, he gives us a very humbling and comforting look into the purposes of God in suffering. "But Joseph said to them, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." (Gen 50:19-20) Sometimes God allows us to see an aspect of his purposes for suffering in this life, most of the time he does not. In this life, through the pain and horrible injustice that we see, we can only trust as Joseph that though evil is meant against us, God is using it (the evil) for our ultimate good. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Rom 8:28)

God does not create evil nor does he sin in allowing that sin be, but he uses the suffering in this world to draw out his good purposes; most graciously and gloriously in that he uses it to draw us to himself. I find it fascinating that in the parable of the sower, suffering is the litmus paper of true faith. When the scorching sun of trial rose on the young plants with no roots, they withered and fell away. Suffering produces the roots of endurance for those who are in the fold of God. "Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 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." (Rom 5:2-5) God is using suffering in the lives of his children, not as a means of wrath but as a means of refinement. Just as a good earthly father disciplines the children that he loves, so that they may learn and grow along the right path, so our heavenly Father loves to see us grow more and more into the likeness of Christ. "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:5-11)

Often it is hard to accept that the future yield in righteousness and joy is worth the pain that we go through and see around us in the present. But the apostle Paul who went through so many more trials than I will ever face trusted in the sure promises of God when he wrote in Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Through Christ our suffering has meaning... because he suffered for us; and as we are united to him in his suffering, we will be united to him in his glory. Are we to despair of hope then when we face great evil and trials from without and within? "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:37-39)

The prayer, 'Christian Calling' in the Valley of Vision ends with these words, "Grant that I may be salted with suffering, with every exactment tempered to my soul, every rod excellently fitted to my back, to chastise, humble, break me. Let me not overlook the hand that holds the rod, as though didst not let me forget the rod that fell on Christ, and drew me to him." Through tears of doubt and dread I pray that prayer, fearful of the pain of discipline even as I see it as the only catalyst to break my hardened heart. I pray that God draws me to himself in that love. With these thoughts I write these words:

Who is man to resist the rod,
So excellently fitted?
And curse the hand that tempers soul
On forge of glorious good?
Who can question He who seasons
With salt of suffering the lacking dish?
In perfect proportions
He gives and takes,
Building character, removing blemish.
It is not for man to question Him:
All knowing, powerful, and good;
But trust the council of His will
And rest in joy on hope of promise.
Then think O man, when storms rage high,
Of Him who forsaken bore the lash;
Of Him who for your soul did bleed,
To purpose glory, life, and grace.
Take heart that He who crushed His Son,
To raise Him unto glory;
Is breaking you with that same love...
A rod that draws you to Himself.