Suffering

                  Are there some things that you don’t think will happen to you because you are a Christian? I know I have thought that way.

                  Many years ago my husband and I were called to serve the Lord in another country – to be missionaries. Not too long after we arrived I was walking down some winding stairs in our new apartment, and my flip flop caught on something. As I was slowly falling down the stairs I had two clear thoughts. The first one was “I can’t hurt myself, I’m a missionary.”

                  I honestly thought that because I was a missionary, and I had left everything to serve the Lord in another country, then God was going to protect me. Thinking about that now I feel a little foolish, not least because many people have been harmed as they served God as missionaries. This was not something I carefully conjectured, however. This was simply a gut reaction to falling down the stairs. It revealed what I really thought.

                  Most people don’t like to suffer. I certainly don’t. And when someone in my circle of family or friends is suffering, I will pray for relief for them. I don’t think God wants anyone to suffer, and yet so many do. God could put a stop to it, but that would mean taking away free will. It’s like God put things in motion, and we messed up, and God is allowing everything to run its course. Sometimes God interferes. More often it seems that he doesn’t.

                  A speaker once shared that he was due to be on the flight that was blown up over Lockerbie in Scotland. Somehow he was not on that plane, even though he should have been. A wonderful story of God protecting him – except he had a friend who was a pastor, and his daughter was on that flight, and died.

                  It is very clear from the Scriptures that we are to pray for those who are sick or suffering. We are to pray for healing, for wholeness, for provision. In Romans Paul asks the question “Who shall separate us from the Messiah’s love?” He goes on ask specifically about “suffering, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” But then he answers his own question: “No: in all these things we are completely victorious through the one who loved us.” He doesn’t say that as Christians we’re not going to suffer, or face hardships, or famine, or nakedness, or danger. I wish he did, but he doesn’t. He simply says that we’re going to be victorious through all these things. This seems to suggest that he expects Christians will face many difficulties.

                  This is not to suggest that we accept whatever comes along and consider it to be God’s will for our lives. If I’m sick, I’m going to ask for healing. What I’m not going to do is get angry at the Lord if I don’t receive complete healing straight away. I will go to a doctor, I will follow medical advice – because I believe God wants me to be well. But my trust will be in the Lord, and I will continue to ask him to heal me, through whatever way he wants.

                  If I lose my job, I will look to the Lord for help in finding another one. If something else untoward happens in my life, I will not accept it as what God wants, but will pray and ask him to help me sort everything out. I will ask him to meet all my needs, and will continue to love and trust him, even if I don’t see the immediate response to my prayers that I’m hoping for.

                  Fortunately I have never been through a famine, and the one time that Mike and I had no food and no money to buy any food, a box of groceries miraculously appeared on our doorstep. And we were very grateful for that provision of food, even if it did mean a main meal of beans on toast for a few nights. I actually really like beans on toast, so that was not suffering for me.

                  Christians are all going to suffer, one way or another. How we respond to that suffering is important, not just for us but also for those who are watching us.

                  I recently read again the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. As they were facing a blazing furnace because they refused to bow down to other gods, they told Nebuchadnezzar that they believed God would deliver them from the fire. But they added that even if God didn’t deliver them they would not bow down to the image of gold that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. I say amen to that! I believe that God wants me healthy, safe and at peace, but if I have to wait awhile for all of that, I will still trust God.

                  And in case any of you are wondering what my second thought was as I was falling down the stairs, it was “I can’t hurt myself because I don’t have any medical insurance.” I did end up with my foot in plaster for a few weeks – but it was not too expensive.