Suffering

Dear Phyllis,

The other day I had an email from my dear friend Wayne Thomas who told me that his wife had Parkinson disease. My first response was to write him quoting Samuel Rutherford who wrote a friend, “I would like to welcome you to my world of suffering”; but then I thought better of it as Wayne probably knew more about that world than I did. But I did write him a letter discussing the issue of suffering; for indeed it is one of the blessings of God.

Many years ago, when I was in Russia, I was talking with a lovely young sister who had just been saved about a year. She asked me the basic question why bad things happen to good Christians. I was speaking in a church in Vladivostok the next Sunday and chose to speak on the subject of suffering, and concluded my message with Paul's word to the Thessalonians, “...that no man should be moved by these afflictions: for you yourselves know that WE ARE APPOINTED THEREUNTO. For verily when we were with you we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it has come to pass” ( 1 Thes. 3:3,4). When the service was over there was one brother from the states who was there that morning, sitting by himself with his head down fifteen minutes after everyone else had left the room. Obviously the Lord had spoken to him about something difficult that morning.

Of all the mysterious ways of God suffering is probably the least understood. On a list of desirability, suffering would be the one put at the bottom. But with God He places it near the top. Jesus began His most famous message, The Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) by listing the greatest blessings. We call them the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-12). He told us of seven things that were the greatest blessing and began by saying, “Blessed are the Poor in spirit.” Then after telling us five more blessing He capped the list by saying the greatest blessing is persecution, and he told us to rejoice and be exceeding glad (Mt. 5:10,12). Not because of the pain but for what it produces. We all know the Beatitudes but how many actually believe them?

When we talk about the Cross there are three meanings. There is the Cross of Christ. This stands by itself. This Cross is objective. It is outside ourselves. There is nothing we can do to alter or influence that Cross. It is by the Cross that Jesus did His greatest work. It was by His Cross that He undid the damage Adam caused in the Garden. He restored humanity back to God, destroyed the devil (Heb. 2:14), and opened Paradise to us. We can never be adequately grateful to Jesus for what he did for us by His Cross. The whole of Christian maturity and growth is simply a matter of understanding more of what was involved in the transaction through Jesus' Cross.

But then Jesus told us that we must bear our own cross. This cross is subjective. This is personal. Jesus bore His cross and anyone who follows Him must go the same way by bearing our own cross. But in that there are two more meanings. The cross has a singular meaning. It is an instrument of death. And it is here that we must learn to die to self. But that is the key to liberation. It is when we learn to give up our life to embrace His life, that we begin to enjoy real life. Hudson Taylor called it the exchanged life. Of what a hallelujah day it is when we quit trying to live our own life and allow Jesus to live His life in us. That cross is indeed to key to freedom.

But then there is the more common use of the word cross which we use in describe trails. This is probably the least scriptural but it is the term most used to describe trials. A disability, sickness, a handicapped child, a nagging wife, an unfaithful husband; all these things Christians say, “This is my cross.” I'm not sure that is accurate, but for the sake of discussion I will accept the use of the term to describe suffering.

Samuel Rutherford was banned from His ministry in Anwoth and sent in exile to Aberdeen for nine years. He called his time of exile his cross. But of how he learned to appreciate it. He frequently wrote,”My cross has done for me that which I formally thought was impossible”. “My cross has put a fresh edge on my sword and my love for Jesus”. It was the paradox that his sufferings were the greatest blessing in his life. He wrote, “the cross is such a burden as wings on a bird or a sail on a ship. It is by this that I have learned to fly.” “Grace grows best in winter”. “We must all bear that rough old cross, but I know no tree that bears sweeter fruit than the cross”. To friends he frequently wrote, “We must always remember that Jesus told us our summer days would have showers and our roses would have prickly thorns.”. Trials are joined hand in hand with the positive blessings in life.

At this point in my life there is no one book that has become more precious to me than the Letters of Samuel Rutherford. It certainly is not a book for everyone. If you don't know the Song of Solomon it would be almost impossible to understood much of what he was talking about. He lived that relationship like no man I have ever read or heard of. Much of his expressions are quotes from the Song of Solomon. And his letters are filled with comments of the work an blessing of his cross. That is why, when Wayne Thomas wrote to me telling me that his wife had Parkinson disease I wanted to write to hem, “Welcome to my world of suffering.”

I prefer the land route to heaven. It is a rough way to sail with Jesus through the storms of life. But this is the only way to heaven. If we choose to go the land route we do so at our own peril and must walk alone. But if we want to get there Jesus' way we must accept there are many storms we must sail through. There are time when it seems like Jesus is asleep and we want to wake Him and cry, “Lord, don't You care that we are perishing?” But even if we have to swim Jesus will still keep His hand under our chin lest we go under.

It certainly is not true that anyone enjoys sufferings. Only a masochist could say that, and that is not normal. But the effect of suffering is healthy. It is by the pain of exercise that mussels are developed. Lack of exercise is deadly. I have enjoyed a somewhat sheltered life. The Lord will not allow us to be tested above that which we are able and is limited on the severity of the suffering He can permit in our lives. But He has been gracious in sending a few disappointments along my way. It was no fun at the time. I often wondered why Jesus would allow such calamities to fall in on me, but in retrospect I can honestly say all He has sent has been for my best. One of the great advantage of our elderly years is that we can look at life through the rear view mirror. When we were young there was nothing in the rear view mirror; life was entirely in the windscreen. But as the sun sets in the west we see life clearly in the mirror. There is much more wisdom in that glass than in the windscreen. All the ambitions, things I wanted to do, and things I wanted to be. Now as I look back on my life all I can do is thank God for keeping me from being a greater idiot. Had I got to the places in life that I hoped for, the Lord would have to desanitize me to get me into heaven and once I got there angles would have to wear masks to avoid the smell.

Rutherford wrote, “The Lord has sent me as a spy to spy out the land. I can report that this is a good land.” My heart is with Wayne. Parkinson disease, is no easy program. It is slow deterioration and very demanding on love ones around. In writing about suffering James wrote that the prophets are given to us as an example and “we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and seen the end of the Lord” (Jm. 5:10,11). Yes, praise God! We have seen the end of the Lord. This is a good land. Welcome.

                                                     bill