Where is God when we suffer?

One day, last week, God answered a prayer of mine unexpectedly that made me dance for joy. I wrote a blog about it at once, one I planned to share with the world on December 1st. But … a few days afterwards, things started to unravel. A cyclone hit Sri Lanka. My heart breaks at the devastation that Cyclone Ditwah has caused in the country of my birth. I grieve for a hurting land with thousands of people displaced, many dead and the country swept up in destruction, chaos and pain. Right here in Australia too, many in my sphere of influence are also facing difficult, challenging circumstances. So my joyful blog of last week was not the right one to post after all.. That will have to wait! Instead there's an elephant in the room … a question that needs to be answered. 

Where is God when we suffer?

Perhaps you. who are reading this, have asked the same question. Where indeed is God as we cry out to Him in pain and disbelief? Why is He sometimes silent? Why has He permitted horrific suffering of innocent people? Doesn't He care? Like a wrestler grappling with his opponent, I've grappled with the problem of suffering, long and hard. Many times over. There was a day, when I was struggling with the unbearable pain of fibromyalgia and cried out to God for relief. No pain medication helps lessen my pain, so when I suffer a flare-up, there's nothing to do, but to grit my teeth and ride it out somehow. And … as many who suffer with chronic pain know all too well … pain is the worst kind of companion. A hard taskmaster. Pain is no picnic! In spite of my fervent pleas, God did not lessen my pain that day. Or the next. I felt abandoned by a God who said He loved me.' Where was He?

It took a few days, but eventually I did hear His voice. First, like the light illuminating the darkness as I stumbled in a forest at dead of night, words I read in a book struck me with clarity. "Do not confuse suffering with the absence of God." Oh? It was exactly what I needed to hear. "Do not confuse suffering with the absence of God." A few days later … on Sunday in church, as we sang the words of a chorus, "Oh how I love You, how I love You, You have not forsaken me", our Pastor declared with godly authority "God has not forsaken you" My eyes opened wide in wonder and awe. Had my pastor read my mind? I heard my Heavenly Father's soft whisper reiterating the truth within my heart. No, He had not forsaken me. Yes. God was with me in my suffering.

Dear one, whatever you are facing right now, God has not abandoned you either. He is with you, in the middle of your tough circumstances and your deep pain. Suffering is one of the conundrums of our walk with God! How does a good God allow so much suffering? A hard question but one that needs to be voiced. The truth is that we have a God who is called 'A Man of suffering and acquainted with grief'. He knows all about it. He understands. And He cares. Although He was without sin and blameless, He was punished for sins He did not commit. Our Shepherd became the lamb who was slaughtered, so that you and I who deserve to suffer, may find freedom, forgiveness and eternal life with God. Truly amazing! 

One day I read in Isaiah 53:4: "Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering." And then I understood. Jesus Himself has carried all that I am suffering now. He understands my journey. He is with me in my suffering. Right here. Right now. I don't know what your year has been like. I don't know the pain you have endured. I don't know all the struggles you have been through, dear one. But I do know this. Our God walks with us in our pain. He is with us in our seasons of deep distress. He promises to redeem them for good as we look to Him.

Where is God when we suffer? He walks beside us. He even woos us closer to Himself through our seasons of grief. In my own journey, I have found the sweetness of His presence and the intimacy of Jesus, not through my joys but through my hardships. Suffering has been for me, a gift tied up with the beautiful bow of God's goodness, love and mercy. This season, may you know His deep comfort as you walk your own path. May His love reach out to you through every challenge and hardship. He who knows what pain is like will carry you and bring you safely through. He is a faithful, loving God! And we can trust Him. 

Blessed be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5