Why All the Suffering?

Why All the Suffering?
originally written
September 19, 2008

My friends be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.
James 1:2-4

The prayer list was long. God put much on my heart to pray for today. Prayers for some that are close, some that live far away and some I don’t even know. The weight felt heavy, but as I breathed every word to God, the burden lifted. I put my trust and faith in Him to protect, to comfort, to guide and uphold.

I don’t understand why one must sit by and watch a loved die. Why does she have to go through this? The pain of watching a loved one suffer as they fight a disease can be unbearable. Although, we don’t want them to leave us, we pray to our Father that the pain will be disappear and our loved will have peace.

Why must a young mother carry the burden alone? She stands in being both parents to her two young children while her husband is deployed two oceans away. Why must she endure the waiting, hoping for the day her husband returns home? The thoughts that must go through her mind every day as she puts her husband in God’s hands. Oh, how she must miss him as she counts the days until he is home standing on protected soil.

There are so many family affected by the hurricane. Some have returned to find the devastation and destruction of their city and homes. The recovery may take months, even years to restore the coastline and what is considered back to normal for many of the folks that endured the storm.

Why does she have to go through the waiting period for a clean bill of health? Hasn’t she been through enough? She has gone through the exams and treatments but she still must wait. A period of time has been given for her to take the proper medications to ensure protection from any further cancers. While the medication does its job, it wreaks havoc on her body.

Then I wonder what God has planned for me and my job as it goes through reconstruction. Many lives will be affected as we wait, are placed and begin a different journey. So many questions unanswered, so many concerns of where I will be in a few months.

As we face trials, there is so much we can take from it. We can learn from the sufferings and trials of life. We learn to turn to God for understanding and deliverance. We make the effort to talk to God and ask questions. We learn about compassion, endurance and perseverance and we may be a blessing to another. We recognize the suffering that Christ Jesus went through for us. We learn obedience, let go of our concerns and put our total trust and faith in God.

No one suffered more than Job. Job lost everything. Job lost his children, his property, his wealth, his good name and his health. But through Job’s obedience and faith look what Job gained:

The LORD now blessed Job more than ever; he gave him fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand pair of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. In addition to seven sons, Job had three daughters, whose names were Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren Happuch. They were the most beautiful women in that part of the world, and Job gave them shares of his property, along with their brothers. Job lived for another one hundred forty years--long enough to see his great-grandchildren have children of their own. Job 42: 12-16