When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. John 11:33 NIV
A debate student on the bus told me his upcoming topic- Why science and the supernatural are incompatible. I told him science is too limited. There are too many realities which can’t be measured and put into a scientific method of observation ( a controlled, repeatable experiment), such as emotions of love, hate, anger, or worry, and history. Of course, I realized how they were trying to teach students that you can only rely on science and not the subjective reality of God and His ways.
Later, I wanted to check my own answers and it lead me to a youtube interview with John Lennox on his book Can Science Explain Everything. He gives answers to a large range of topics including pain and suffering.
He said that this was probably one of the hardest questions to answer because of the depth of sorrow people feel. If there is no God then why does evil and suffering exist? How do we derive a moral measurement of right and wrong to determine what is evil? On the other hand, since there is a God, why does He allow us to suffer and die if He loves us? Every world view has to have an answer to human suffering, Christianity leads to hope.
I’ve been meditating on Professor Lennox’s conclusion for about a week. We love and serve a God who chose not to remain aloof from our pain and suffering. Look at Jesus on the cross. As God, our God, my God (Jesus) suffered pain and death on the cross. 100 percent man AND 100 percent God experienced human suffering, betrayal, ridicule, heckling, cursing, dishonor all while hanging on the cross. Jesus as the God/man experientially felt pain.
The cross reveals the empathy that God has for our plight. It also removes the barrier that was keeping us from drawing near to God -our sin. The blood that was shed, was poured out as an offering for our rebellious and sinful thoughts and actions. To be covered by the blood is to be cleasned. Isaiah says “come now let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow, though the be red like crimson, they shall be made as white as wool. God says that life is in the blood. When Jesus blood left His body, it was an exchange for our lives.
Jesus’ death on the cross is only half the story. Our hope to rise above our pain and suffering is in the resurrection. Jesus experienced pain and death and then rose again to new life without pain and suffering any longer. As we look to the promise of resurrection, hope arises in our heart that pain will be temporary, that death is only a sting, that the weight of the world will be cast off, that our own failures and mistakes are never greater than the power of God to move us into freedom and life everlasting.
When it comes to facing stress we have all experienced the fight or flight emotions. Both are needed for the right occasions, But there is a third response. You need not come to God to fight with Him that your way is better than His, nor do you have to run and hide as Adam did in the garden. We can approach our Holy God with a broken and contrite heart. On bended knee and in humility we bring our stress, our pain, our failures, our frailties, our lack of wisdom on how to get better, our overwhelmness that our walls are caving in, our darkness, our continued struggles can all be shared with our loving heavenly Father.
I started this blog while on a field trip and stopped at the paragraph where Jesus feels our pain. As I dropped the kids off at school I noticed one young man who was troubled. As I inquired he shared that he had lost a friend recently to violence, I asked if I could pray for him and he said yes. As I prayed, I kept thinking about Jesus experiencing our pain at that moment. He was present in the little room.
Death, pain and suffering entered the world because of sin. That knowledge doesn’t help ease the struggle and hurt. BUT knowing that a loving God, who we can know and talk with, entered into our world to let hope shine a light on our path, is wonderful news.
Come to Jesus today! On bended knee and a humble heart, come! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain to bring your pain and suffering to Him. Cast all of you care upon HIm, for He cares for you.
Blessings love y’all