No one is a stranger to suffering

 

No human being is a stranger to suffering because suffering comes to all of us.  Granted, the degree to which each of us suffers can be wide ranged, so the question, then, is not whether we’ll suffer, but how will we respond to it?  The apostle James tells us to “count it pure joy” whenever we’re faced with trials and troubles, setbacks and adversity [James 1:1-11].  I sometimes wonder—is this good pastoral advice?  Is it even rational?

Christianity doesn’t claim that suffering is good, but it does teach that we can make our suffering productive of good.  As my mother used to tell us children, “Offer it up for something good!”  Christianity doesn’t encourage us to seek suffering, but it does affirm that we can grow through our suffering.  Suffering is productive of good when we seize it as an opportunity to reassess our values and priorities, our goals and ambitions.  In this respect, suffering can re-center us by reminding us of what’s most important in life.  Similarly, we grow through our suffering when we use a fundamentally negative experience to lead to positive results.  This happens when suffering makes us more attuned to the struggles and hardships of others, when it makes us less judgmental and more compassionate.

James tells us to rejoice in our sufferings—in the tears and sorrows that come our way—not because there’s anything intrinsically good about those experiences, but because through them our faith can be cleansed and deepened.  Perhaps the most important lesson we can learn from suffering about the nature of genuine faith is that faith is the steadfast and resilient conviction that no matter what might be happening in our lives, God is faithful and trustworthy.  Moreover, suffering shatters the fatal illusion that we can make it through life on our own, by reminding us of something that we find so hard to accept: our absolute and enduring dependence on God.  As the apostle James’ prediction about the rich man assures us, none of us can make ourselves safe or secure.  Despite what our society preaches, we shouldn’t place our faith in money or possessions, in power or status, but in God.  If suffering has taught us that, we can count ourselves blessed.