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Introduction:
Political Compassion?
Derek Poole
Silly
Games with Flags
Alwyn Thomson
From
the Director
David Porter
Church
and Society
Lesley Carroll
Education
Mike Wardlow
Social
Development
Doug Garrett
Environment
Tom Clarke
Wilson
on Suffering
Alan Wilson
Finance
and Personnel
Stephen Roper
Enterprise,
Trade and Investment
Lawson McDonald
Faith
and Practice - Esmond Birnie
Megan Halteman
Higher
and Further Education
John Gillespie
Health
and Social Services
Brian Coulter
Agriculture
Jack Patterson
Culture,
Arts and Leisure
David Boyd
The
Essential IVP Reference Collection
Embodying
Forgiveness
ECONI Conference
Not
of This World?
New Book
WILSON
SUFFERING
Living in the world that we do, most of us know what it is to suffer.
Haven’t we at some stage in life known the pain of a broken heart? Or
our dreams shattered? We have tasted salty tears as they trickled down
our faces. We have felt that life is not fair and sometimes it seems that
God is not fair either. What we do with this pain is of the utmost importance.
It has the power to make us or break us. Character, maturity and our ability
to relate to others are the resultss of how we have or haven’t dealt with
suffering.
How we respond to suffering will determine the quality and nature of our spirituality. To help us grasp this truth let us consider a familiar verse. In Isaiah 53:6 we read, ‘We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ In Isaiah 53 we have a stark contrast between the Lamb of God who submitted to suffering and the sheep that went astray. It is interesting to notice that Peter makes reference to this verse and applies it to believers who are returning to the Lord for help and guidance in the midst of their pain.
‘'When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.’ (1Peter 2:23-25) Ersatz or fake theology, applied to suffering, will cause us to go astray. The wording of Isaiah 53:6 is very strong ‘gone astray’, ‘turned to his own way.’ The word Peter uses for ‘going astray’ literally means to be deceived or seduced. It is possible that when we react to suffering in wrong ways we, the people of God, become like sheep that go astray. We have all known people who once had a vibrant faith and a close walk with God. Then a crisis hit their lives and they turned to their own way, indulging in many different kinds of sinful behaviour in an attempt to ‘medicate’ their pain. To think biblically about suffering is to draw us closer to God. This is an extremely painful and difficult process, possibly more painful than the original cause of pain. It will make us question our faith and even at times doubt God’s love, but it will bring us closer to God if we persevere. Over the next year we are going to look at some of the ways Christians approach suffering. The wrong approach usually comes in one of two general forms - overt or covert. Overtly misguided theology, adhered to by a minority of people, goes something like this: “It is never God’s will for us to suffer. God wants to heal everyone, and make us all happy and rich." Not many people fully subscribe to this view, yet I do suspect many of us have a diluted version. The covert approach is more subtle, and held by many Christians. It comes in many guises and is often confused with authentic biblical teaching. Some of these are a misunderstanding of grace, an incorrect view of spiritual warfare, the difference between judgement and discipline, and how we apply the word of God. We will look at each in turn in coming articles.
Alan Wilson is a member of Hamilton Road Baptist Church, Bangor.
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