A friend asked this week; "what does it mean to say that Paul boasts in his sufferings?"  I think the question meant, "how in the world could anyone ever imagine suffering as something to be happy about?"

 

To begin with, I have a couple of points I want to emphasize:

 

1.  I DO NOT believe that God causes suffering nor do I believe that God wants us to suffer.

2.  Every person on earth suffers.  Even those that we think have it made, go through times of suffering.

 

Of course the questions we all have are; "What does God have to say about suffering?"  and "Why doesn't God do something about suffering?"

 

Although I'm not always quite sure about the answers to those questions, I'm fairly confident that God encounters our questions in the crucifixion and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.  There in the cross and empty tomb we see how Jesus meets us in our times of despair.  We see hope for a new tomorrow.  And we find meaning, even in the midst of that which seems meaningless.

 

We have to ask ourselves "why do I believe that times of struggle are a punishment from God?"  Is it because I continue to hold on to the false belief that God is angry with me for not being faithful enough?  Do I continue to believe that my salvation is up to me rather than a gift from Jesus?  Or maybe I believe that God is impotent or uncaring about what happens to me?  Could it be that in some small way, our misconceptions about suffering are related to our struggle to truly and fully trust in God and that finally getting control of our lives only happens in our letting go and letting God?

 

To encounter God in the midst of suffering is to encounter Jesus Christ and him crucified for our sake.  It is in short, to encounter the gift that is salvation.  And when we encounter Jesus in our brokenness, then we, like Paul, can even boast in our sufferings, believing that in our sufferings God is with us and that God will once again produce in us, the hope of resurrection.