A Different Perspective on Suffering

A Different Perspective on Suffering April 5, 2016
On the deck of Piny Point Lighthouse, Maryland



But if impatient, thou let slip thy cross,
Thou wilt not find it in this world again,
Nor in another; here, and here alone,
Is given thee to suffer for God’s sake. 
In other worlds, we shall more perfectly
Serve Him and love Him, praise Him, work for Him,
Grow near and nearer Him with all delight;
But then we shall not any more be called
To suffer, which is our appointment here.
Canst thou not suffer then one hour, — or two? ~Ugo Bassi

Human nature is to try and “slip our cross.” We avoid suffering at all costs, and perhaps on some level, we should. As far as I can tell, the Word never calls us to seek suffering. But suffering often seeks us – and finds. So the question then becomes, what do we do with it?

What did Jesus do with it?

First, he asked for it to be removed from him. “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me …” (Luke 22:42)

But the answer was no, and the cup remained. And so, Jesus lived out the second part of that verse: “Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours.”

Suffering was the very reason he came to earth. If he had somehow been excused from that divine appointment, you and I would be in deep trouble. He would have left this earth without providing a way for us to escape eternal suffering and damnation. I cannot imagine my life without what happened on Calvary, and I am overjoyed that Christ obeyed the Father and accepted his lot of suffering, even to the point of death.

But why am I not overjoyed at my own suffering? When I get to “other worlds”, my chance to suffer will be -poof!- gone. All I can do once I’m in Heaven is serve, love, praise, and work for him. I can no longer suffer with him or for him.

That is cause to rejoice, but it is also cause to accept, with gladness, the lot I’ve been given. And yet, all the time, I wiggle this way and that, doing my best to escape from even the lightest cross. If I’m cold, I buy wool socks and a vehicle with seat warmers. If I’m hot, I crank up the AC. And then there are the heavy crosses. Like this ongoing, incurable illness. If it’s not me looking for a way of escape from such heavy suffering, it’s someone else. One of my doctors will order blood work, and the results will come back bad, because they always do, and again, remedial measures are explored.

The message is: let’s get rid of this danged suffering.

Where John Wilkes Booth suffered with a broken leg

I appreciate the effort, really. But I’ve been at chronic illness long enough to know that a cure is out there, not here. The cure lies in the other world – the world where the appointment book for suffering has been destroyed, once and for all.

Too often, though I’ve accepted my health problems as incurable, I still think in terms of why, why me, why now, why this way, why everything? I look at healthy women my age and ask why not like her, why not me, why not now, why can’t I? I don’t look in the mirror and say, “Canst thou not suffer one more hour, — or two?”

First of all, who uses words like canst and thou? 🙂 Second of all, who looks suffering in the face and with a smile, says, “Bring it!”

Small is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to that kind of life. Still … that is the gate I’m called to walk through. Though the road be narrow, and though there be few who find the Way, the fact is, I’m one of the called. Before the foundations of the earth, I was called to be his. And if I’m called to be his, then I’m also called to suffer.

I have one life to live. One life to share in his sufferings. That life is made up of a multitude of hours, but I only have to take one hour at a time. So with Paul, I have and will continue to ask for the thorn to be removed. But because the answer keeps coming back as “no”, I will attempt to look at things differently. I’ll do my best to be patient – to accept, not slip, my cross – and instead ask myself:

Could you suffer one more hour? 

And when that hour seems impossible, I will ask myself:

Could you suffer one more minute? 

And the answer will always be:

His grace is sufficient. With God’s help, I can. 


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