Daily Archives: July 28, 2010

Suffering is great

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To date, the worst form of suffering I have encountered has been the verbal abuse I get through the comments on this website…now I’ve been able to cope with that so far so I think that counts really as not being the worst suffering to have to go through.

The common idea about suffering is that it’s fundamentally bad. Our job is to avoid suffering at all costs, and the so-called prosperity gospel adds to this idea – Jesus’ death and resurrection dealt with sin and its consequences to the point that we don’t need to suffer in any way any more! I’ve even seen a book where the authors said that they’d had several children without any painkillers because Jesus didn’t want them to suffer.

I don’t think that’s right though, and something by Peggy Reynoso I read the other day really helped me to put this into words – I’m just going to quote it verbatim:

Suffering has a clarifying effect on us. It strips us down to the basics, where we have no pretense or fluff, and reveals things in our inner selves that we didn’t know were there (or wished weren’t there). Suffering sharpens our focus. That clarity of cision changes our worldview, to the extent that Peter could say that he who has suffered physically is ‘done with sin’ (1 Peter 4:1).

She continued later:

[God] didn’t answer my most heartfelt prayers; He didn’t spare my son; and He didn’t save my daughter’s life. I have found that when God’s gifts are not the reason I give Him thanks, I rediscover that God is good.

To add to this, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

I think God is nearer to suffering than to happiness and to find God in this way gives peace and rest and a strong and courageous heart.

I know this is dangerous, but dear Lord I ask for suffering for the glory of Your name.

Who’s with me?