King David repeatedly talked about the prayers of the righteous being heard and answered by God who loves all of His creation. But many are the souls who keep on praying for redemption from their troubles and yet receive no answer and finally give up with this belief that probably God has also forgotten them. The man suffering for thirty eight years was healed by Lord Jesus but there were many by the pool who were left out. Does God desire to bless everyone in His grace and mercy or only the select ones are saved?
Many cry out to God but only few are heard – Pain in a person’s life can be of various types and each has a different root cause. Physical pain could be due to an injury or sickness which is the result of carelessness, others’ mistakes or infections. These can be identified easily and treated by proper medical care and usually get healed over a period of time and normally do not leave long lasting effects except in certain diseases. However it does leave a permanent imprint on the mind of the individual and may also damage relationships. Psychological or mental pain is difficult to identify and its treatment also may take a very long time. Also this type of pain is more about perception than real issues, which become difficult to manage. While in the first case there are visible symptoms, in the second case everything appears to be normal till the volcano of pain suddenly erupts causing great anguish all around.
Mary and Martha were rich and the sickness of their brother caused them to seek Lord Jesus’ help for his healing. ‘Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister Mary and their brother Lazarus. So, when he heard that he was sick, he stayed there two more days’ (John 11:5-9). The statement is clear that He loved each of them individually and equally for each one is mentioned and His love was not only for the family overall. He loved Lazarus also equally. Despite this the Lord did not react to their request for two days and some would attribute this delay to the threat to His life from the Jews who wanted to seize Him. But after two days the threat was still there and these two days caused great pain and agony to Martha and Mary, and Lazarus died.
The disciples and the two sisters were not aware of His plan and suffered for no answer to their prayer. As per Jewish tradition the spirit of a dead person hovers about the tomb/the dead body to seek a way and chance to return to the body. The grief of Martha and Mary would be greatly multiplied after the third day, for then all hope of their brother’s revival was gone. Even with His mother’s request in the marriage in Cana (John 2:1-11) and His brothers urging to go to Jerusalem (John 7:1-10), He answered at His own time and in His own manner. The Greek Syro-Phoenician woman initially received no reply and even the disciples were troubled by her continuous pleadings (Mark 7:26-29). Lord Jesus even used an offensive word for her, saying, ‘it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs’. The woman persevered and her daughter was healed. God works and answers our prayers as per His timetable and not ours and though there was a delay, it was not a denial. The longer period of agony brought greater glory to God, but the one who is suffering feels that God is not considerate for their pain and does not care.
But does God not see the suffering of His people to move forward and help them? The LORD God told the Israelites, ‘The Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are ever before Me’ (Mark 7:26-29). God has made all believers His children and part of His family and how can a Father who is love not care for His children, whom He has chosen as per His will?
An atheist was once stranded in the jungle and suddenly a large bear appeared before him and he cried out to God for help. God asked him about the type of help he sought being a non-believer. He immediately said, ‘Please God, make the bear a believer’ and suddenly he found the bear praying and thanking God for a different meal for that day. Do we turn to God only when we are in a difficult and a painful situation or are we in regular communion with Him? Within a short time after the sin of Adam and Eve, God ‘saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was evil only continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart’ (Genesis 6:5-6). If we look around us today, is the situation any better now? There are groups who refuse to believe in the Son of God and worship Satan by having regular worship houses dedicated for this purpose. When we suffer for any reason, the first thing we must try and do is to identify the cause that triggered this and we can change on our own. And then pray and seek God’s help to escape that painful state.
Why is someone born with an ailment? The disciples sought Lord Jesus to learn about the reason for the blindness from birth of the man in the Temple, whether it was his or his parents sin that caused this (John 9:1-3). Invariably we consider all pain and suffering to be the result of some sin that has not been confessed and forgiveness sought. Job’s friend Bildad the Shuhite blamed his sufferings on some hidden sin and said, ‘If you were pure and straight, surely now He (God) would awake for you, and prosper your rightful dwelling place’ (Job 8:6). Throughout their talk Job’s friends accused him of sinful living urging him to repent and seek forgiveness while Job continued to claim innocence. When God finally intervened in the discussion, He did not reveal the reason for Job’s suffering or answer his questions, but revealed His power and authority to perform such mighty works. No one can really identify the reasons behind all that happens on the earth to various people and their suffering, for God is Sovereign to do what he pleases. God reprimanded Job’s three friends, for they had not spoken of Him, ‘what is right, as My servant Job has’ (Job 42:7).
God created everything in heaven and earth for His glory. Apostle Paul has taught, ‘In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18). This means whether in joy or in pain we ought to give thanks to God. But how can one thank God for his pain and sufferings? On Palm Sunday while entering Jerusalem Lord Jesus wept over it, for He was aware of the coming devastation that would come upon the city later in AD 70. Outside the tomb of Lazarus, before raising him from the dead, Lord Jesus wept (John 11:35). He was moved by the pain and suffering of Martha and Mary over their brother’s death and also about the sufferings and death brought into the world by the devil. He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and to give glory to the LORD God through His works of giving life to all. When our faith leads us to believe in God’s future grace even in our sufferings, we believe that He makes no mistakes. Then the realization comes, what we are undergoing is also as per His plan only and He will turn the present state into a blessed one in the future. ‘The LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before’ (Job 42:10).
Satan is most afflicted when believers trust God instead of our emotions and visible state that cause fear, worry, doubt and depression. Lord Jesus asked the disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side (of the Galilee lake)’ (Mark 4:35-41), for He wanted to heal the man of the Gadarenes afflicted by the legion (6000 or more) of evil spirits and He knew of his and the sufferings of his family members. The devil suddenly caused a great storm, while the Lord was sleeping in the stern of the boat. Since the severe storm caused fear in the mind of the disciples, who were experienced fishermen, they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ Lord Jesus calmed the storm but also said to them, ‘How is it that you have no faith?’ He had desired to ‘go to the other side’ and nothing could have stopped Him.
In our sufferings, we start relying on our feelings, rather than on God. God spoke and it came to be and we are blessed with the indwelling Holy Spirit, the power that created everything with the Word of God. Lord Jesus drove off the devil by quoting Scripture during His temptation. When we start speaking and claiming the promises of God in our prayers, we are strengthened in our faith and answer to prayers is received. Though the pain and sufferings may not go away immediately, our outlook towards that changes. Job could declare in faith in the grace and mercy of the loving God and say, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him’ (Job 13:15). In deep anguish and suffering, we are focussed on hearing the doctor or finding out the reasons for that and do not do what we ought to.
We are rarely intimate with God in good times and in pain we may not thank Him for the pain, but we can thank Him for His presence. A loving Father will never leave His child in suffering and He has promised ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’. When He is in us, He is hurting as much or more in our pain and struggles and wants it to end quickly.
Why does the time of suffering get longer? God is definitely in control over every situation and nothing can in any way surprise Him. But He also desires His children to reach a certain level of perfection on this earth to do what He has decreed for us in this life. Apostle Paul suffered pain and tribulations in almost all places that he visited in his evangelical journeys. Even then he could preach ‘we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us’ (Romans 5:3-5). The sportspersons who excel, tell the story of the pain that they underwent while preparing for the event.
Tribulation is putting the faith to the test and God knows how much we can take. The carnal mind resents and gets irritated over every bump on the road but a spiritual person becomes gentle and humble. The blessedness of being chosen by God is to be near Him in close relationship and the closer you get, the more apparent is His glory. The chosen are to reflect to the world the image of God who sent His Son to suffer for His creation and ‘it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief’ ((Isaiah 53:10). When His Own Son was being ridiculed, spit upon, scourged and crucified, El- Shaddai, the Almighty God and His Son, who could have destroyed the whole world with one word, remained patient so that our sufferings could be put on Him.
Apostle Paul has given us the golden chain of Christian growth and maturity for all of us want to be like the Redeemer. We want to have better character, more hope but without tribulation, but that is not God’s plan. He has described his love for the people that while imprisoned in Rome, he could say, ‘to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ (Philippians 1:21). Apostle Paul had glorified God through all his sufferings by enduring and going on in faith and in his death also that would happen for he did not fear death. Then in his death, he would be with His Saviour forever. God can end the suffering of anyone in two ways; through healing or through promotion into His very presence. When I live with the realization of His presence in and with me always then I can feel His suffering with me in my pain. It is then that I start seeking Him to strengthen me to persevere and the pain itself becomes the way to move closer to Him and walk in His ways to glorify Him in my life.
Like Job we can keep on trying to work out the reasons for our sufferings but in all that also God reveals His glory and may not answer the questions in our minds. My wife had never suffered any health issues all her life and more than forty years of our married life, she enjoyed good health. Suddenly, she suffered a heart issue and was under medical care for nearly four months, till she went to be with the Lord. All along during that time she maintained a happy and contented state of mind while thanking the Lord for all His blessings. My daughters and I feel great pain of our temporary separation from her, but we daily thank the Lord for His wonderful gift of her life to us as a great wife, mother and a friend. We can keep on complaining about her untimely departure or we can praise God for His grace and mercy towards us that we had her in our lives. It is always a choice to make during and after our sufferings and pain, to get closer to God and surrender to His Divine will or fight and prolong the agony.
Prophet Isaiah carried the word of the LORD to King Hezekiah about his death and to ‘set his house in order’ (2 Kings 20:1-7). Hezekiah cried out to the LORD and his death was deferred by God for fifteen years. After this he had a son Manasseh, who at age twelve, became king of Israel after his father, Hezekiah’s death. He was one of the evil kings and ‘shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD’ (2 Kings 21:16). Hezekiah’s life was extended but the result of that was much evil in his house and kingdom by his son. God may grant our requests to shorten the time of our pain but the result may be more painful for us as well for others.
Apostle Paul despite all his sufferings could say, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God’ ((2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Anything that happens in our lives is to train and equip us to glorify God and Lord Jesus prayed to God the Father, ‘Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You’ (John 17:1). The Son received His glory through sufferings and pain up to and on the cross and the Father was glorified in the finished work of His Son through defeat of death and the devil. The Son of God knew about all that awaited Him, but still prayed, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will but Yours be done’ (Luke 22:42-43). God the Father sent an angel to strengthen His son to face all the pain and suffering. The moment we realise that God as a loving Father suffers more than His children in their pain, we will surrender to His will and be strengthened to face any situation.
Like gold is purified in fire, we are also brought closer to God through our tribulations and sufferings. WE must be thankful in all situations and prayerfully seek His Divine help in getting us out of those troubles. He will either take us out of that or strengthen us to face and overcome it to bring glory to Him. Either way we honour Him and continue to be transformed into His Son’s image, the final goal of our life!
