Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Suffering

Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31).

Many have found that suffering leads a person to nobler qualities and higher achievement. Cornelius Ryan was the author of The Longest Day, The Last Battle, and A Bridge Too Far. He collaborated with his wife on his last book, A Private Battle. In this book, they described his personal 4½ year battle with cancer, which he was struggling with as he wrote A Bridge Too Far. Hope had alternated with despair. Pain became a constant companion. Incontinence stripped away his dignity. Progressive weakness led to helplessness and dependence. Ryan was no unrealistic Pollyanna, nor did he minimize the severity of his condition; yet in the midst of his ordeal, he made the following observation: "No one seems to realize that pain makes the mind sharper. Ironically, I think I am writing better with cancer than I did without it." Reflecting on how his disease had impacted their marriage, Ryan’s wife wrote "I think I loved my husband in his years of sickness more than at any other time in our marriage. The way he handled his illness, the fierce courage with which he fought it, submerged my sexual desires as my pride in him increased."

No one likes to suffer, and our desire to minimize suffering has led to wonderful advances in medical research. But it is unrealistic to expect to live a pain-free life. There is no cure for Muscular Dystrophy or Multiple Sclerosis. There is no cure for arthritis or diabetes. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease or AIDS. Nor is there any way to guarantee that we will not be made blind or deaf or paralyzed due to an accident or an act of war. For all of our advances, suffering remains a very real part of everybody’s life.

Often, the only thing that you can do about suffering is decide how it will affect your outlook on life. You can decide to throw yourself a pity party and wallow in your pain. You can decide to become bitter and inflict your pain on everyone around you. Or you can turn to Jesus for help. You can ask Him to help you endure the pain with a positive attitude; suffering can help you look at your priorities in a new light. You can ask Him to show you ways that you can serve Him within the limitations your health has saddled you with; suffering can lead you to serve Jesus in ways that you never considered before. Most importantly, you can ask Him to help you recognize your sins and forgive you for them, because sin is the root cause of all suffering; it was our sins that caused Jesus to suffer hell itself on the cross for us, a much worse suffering than you or I will ever know. Suffering can be beneficial when it causes us to turn to Jesus on a daily basis and look to Him as our support system. With the weight of our sins lifted from our shoulders, and with Jesus supporting us with His love and strength, any suffering that afflicts us becomes much easier to bear.

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