November 26–Suffering. Why??

Good Monday to you! I hope you had a great weekend and were able to be in the house of the Lord with other believers. I heard about a couple of tragedies that happened this weekend—one involved a car wreck that ultimately lead to the death of a little 4-year old girl. The human side of us always questions suffering like this and asks “why?” Why do these kinds of things happen to good people, good parents? 


So many times, we try to make God in our image instead of the other way around. And because of that, we tend to believe that if you’ve been bad, God should treat you bad and if you’ve been good, God should reward you and treat you good. But in Luke 13, Jesus just says “No!” That’s not how this works. Some in the crowd has asked him about the Gallileans that Herod had just killed so he could their blood as a sacrifice. 


“Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭13:2-5‬ ‭NIV‬‬


Jesús says here that the people who died were not bad, but that this world is sinful. We let sin into this world and we keep sin in this world. Bad things happen because of our sin, someone else’s sin or the evil one trying to cause more chaos in the world. It can be caused by nature because this world is broken by sin and it is groaning. Sin brings suffering into the world and all sin has the same payoff. 


No matter what we do...we can eat only organic foods, we can be gluten free, we can drink protein smoothies every day, and 8 bottles of water. We can exercise, never smoke, never drink, and live as healthy a lifestyle as possible but at some appointed time, we will die. And until then, suffering is all a part of it. Do we ever really understand why? 


“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:12‬ ‭MSG‬‬


We are just seeing dimly just now, but there will be a time when even suffering will make sense. The one thing we do know? Gods lack of love is not the cause. Suffering is not from God, Mercy is. He is patient and he is kind. 


Today, pray for those who are suffering during this season because we all know someone. Ask the Father of Mercy and Goodness to wrap his love around them and especially bless them during this time when everyone around them is in celebration and help them to understand that God has not punished them. 


Love you dear one,

Pam



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