“Glorious Ruin,” a study on suffering. Of course, this study is based on the Book of Job, a man whose story always brings many questions to mind. Suffering has been always something I feared since I was a child. Since there was so much drama in my family growing up, I was always afraid to see what else might be coming my way.
I learned a lot during this study. I learned that we may not be suffering simply because we did something wrong. This thinking is referred to as “moralizing suffering” and it is not Biblical. There are consequences to our actions, but not all pain and suffering is a direct consequence of something we’ve done. We are not to minimize our suffering, because pain is real and we are broken people living in a broken world. God never says to anyone in the Bible: “Just get over it!” Jesus suffered on the cross. He did not suffer because of His own sin, but because of ours.
Job’s story also reminds us that God is in complete control. He was when He allowed
Jesus to be crucified on our behalf, and He is in complete control now when you and I suffer. If you find yourself there today, hold unto God’s sovereignty in the midst of suffering. Anytime we suffer, we need to remember that Jesus knows exactly what our suffering is like.
”For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.” Hebrews 4:15-16
Suffering, pain and grief are all an acknowledgement that things in this world are not as
they should be. God never promises to rescue us from our suffering, but He does promise us to rescue us in our suffering, so we will not be slaves to things like bitterness or anger.
My prayer is that maybe one day soon you and I can say with Job: “The Lord gives,
the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!”
Krisztina White