As happiness is the pursuit for many... it is a natural innate desire. So is the desire to cope and deal with the opposite... suffering, struggle, and fear. It is a human conflict that at some point in our lives, we must deal with and remedy. Religion (should you choose to entertain it as a possible remedy) often addresses suffering or struggle in some way... as generalizations: either justifying it and encouraging it in place of a great reward (salvation, favor of God), eliminate it (meditation, prayer), or find protection from it (higher being, prayer or sacrifices). You would think that the justifications I mention are emblematic of a certain religion, suffereing for reward (Islam), elimination through meditation (Buddhism), or protection (various). However even within the Christian circle we deal with suffering and the response to it in ways usually indicitive of other religions. We ask God for prosperity and protect us from suffering... believing Gods plan for his chosen is a prosperous life.. as defined by us... not knowing that it handicaps our spiritual growth.
Suffering and struggle are a result of sin permeating through this world. (Romans) It is a result of sin rearing itself in the human manifestations of fear, unhealthy ambition, hatred, greed, just to name a few. Even still, there is a distinct and necessary place in Christianity for suffering. It is part of the redemption story. While God may not necessarily be the creator of suffering/evil (this can be debated) God is never the less sovereign OVER it, and uses it for His ultimate glory, to shape His final story. He can choose to withhold it in a show of mercy but we are without excuse as suffering ultimately is a result of our sin and rebellion against God.
Suffering was a distinct mark of saints displayed in the bible and as Christ suffered to fulfill the redemption through the cross, so must His saints of today journey the same path to fulfill Christ second coming... the reach of the nations will be done largely through suffering and sacrifice.
We often believe that we are completely devoid of need for struggle and suffering because Christ suffered FOR us. There is no more debt of suffering to be paid. It is true that our suffering and struggle to the deepest degree could not bridge the gap of our offense or appease the need for reconciliation but if Salvation in its fullest form is reconciliation/justification, sanctification and eventual glorification, then suffering IS a necessary part of salvation. It is encompassed in the act of the Cross and Gods plan for His ultimate redemptive work. It was His intention for us to know Christ and fellowship with him through suffering that we might know Him more and understand the cross more, for us to stay within grasp of it always.
However, God also says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest". We are commanded to live without fear and worry... for the great crisis has already been resolved, the ultimate ending already written. Yet the nature and content of our prayers usually reveal that many crisis still exists in our lives. When we are crying out for God to invervene in our circumstances, it to an extent reveals where we find our sure footing and our ultimate trust. Oswald Chambers says, "God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable. Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point, then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those people who do not even know God." God has resolved the great crisis and assured us in Hope of whats to come, yet many times our prayers reveal that we are unable to liberate ourselves from the crisis that is sin permeating in our lives and showing itself through different difficult circumstances.
At times I feel ashamed knowing that I lack so much faith, showing in the content of my prayers yet, I am confident and almost certain that this struggle is not only known by God but necessarily for God to eventually write His story through his saints. That "he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" through the growth by struggle/suffering. He knows our sin nature, our weaknesses and knows the sheep need not only a shepard for protection but a master to craft and mold. It is then not our job to necessarily live life without words of crisis but to ultimately yield and relent day after day in clear knowledge of the fact that we ultimately lack maturity and faith to trust Him sovereignly and completely... rejoicing completely in our suffering, completely detached from selfish ambition, desires and want of resolved circumstance the way we see fit or even what we deem important. As David made plain and clear his crisis in life, displaying fear and confusion, declaring his weakness... he also prayed a prayer of praise that God was sovereign over it all... and ultimately, that his SOUL was without crisis. Deep down we can be stirred, we can be frightening in following and suffering for Christ, but for a Christian who has digested the gospel our SOUL is at rest and without crisis... becuase the only crisis that needed resolving has already been accomplished on the cross.
In early levels of Christian maturity, we do not understand or grasp what is truly important. Without understanding the depth of our depravity, from what depth Christ had to grab us from, we are left worrying about things so unimportant in the realm of eternity. As we mature, we begin to see and appreciate the Grace by which Christ saved us, and the depth of our need already resolved... yet even in this state we struggle with a dual nature, one that finds confidence as heirs, but one that is fighting his sinful nature to worry, to love sin, and rebel from God... it is here we must learn to relent and submit day after day for a desire to love Christ and be more Christlike in thought and mind. As mature christians, we can then even rejoice in suffering becuase we know that everything else is of little value, crisis or not, and that our suffering will lead to our growth and His eventually coming.. that nations will be reached and saved through the suffering of these Christians.
Without sounding too much like a cultish doomsday prophet I can confidently say that crisis awaits Christians in some way shape or form in the comming days as we prepare like watchmen for Christ. We shouldn't live life ignoring it then become surprised when it comes but prepare for it in heart, mind, spirit, and soul... so that we can stand firm in God, in Glory of Him. Suffering keeps us close to the foot of the cross and that is better than life without suffering and without God.
But it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking our confidence in Him." Oswald Chambers
