This month we are approaching Easter Sunday which we often call Resurrection Sunday, for it is a remembrance of that first Easter Sunday on which Jesus Christ our Lord rose from the grave. While it is good and right for us to celebrate Easter each year, perhaps we also need reminding that every Sunday is a resurrection Sunday. Indeed, each Sunday that we gather is a continued celebration of the Risen King and of our expectation of His return to rule and to reign forevermore.
“Pain insists on being attended to.” What an insightful statement. Pain is something that cannot be ignored, and God knows it. We are lulled into a deception about our own sinful condition, but God uses pain and suffering to wake us from our stupor—“to shout” to us. In other words, God allows for suffering and evil to get our attention so that He might draw us back to Himself. For in reconciliation with Him is the promise of healing and the wiping away of every tear.
Knowing why God allows suffering and pain won’t make me feel any better. It’s been said before that Job still had to face empty seats at the family dinner table even though he discovered (to some degree) that God had been doing a great work in his life even through his difficulty and grief. Asking why won’t lead me to an emotionally satisfying place, but it can lead me to a fruitful discovery nonetheless. Asking why leads us to some discovery about ourselves and our God that can lead us into a deeper relationship with and love for a God infinitely bigger, wiser, and more majestic than I can imagine.
“How can a good God who loves me allow me to feel do depressed and despairing? Why would He allow me to experience such terrible pain and suffering? Have you ever heard someone ask a question like this? Have you ever asked a question like this yourself? I’d venture that most of us have at least thought something like this even if we never put words to it. When we face difficulty and pain, our first inclination is typically “Why God?” Why do bad things happen to good people? Simply put, there are no “good people.” But we can take it a little further than this. This question has often come on the lips of Christians who know God and understand the gospel. They know that they aren’t a good person but a sinner saved by God’s grace. So, let’s take the question a bit further, “Why does God allow suffering and difficultyfor His children?” That might be an even harder question.
Death is no respecter of persons. We learn this painful lesson as we experience life and become acquainted with the frailty of our own lives and those arounds us. In December, our church experienced the loss of a dear man who had teenage children. This got me to thinking about how we could help children as they face loss and grief. Here are some key ideas whether you yourself are working through the loss of a loved one or are trying to help someone else who is.
