To Live is to Breathe in Heartache

One of the most difficult aspects of our faith is understanding why the Good Shepherd allows suffering? Is there meaning in suffering? Does our faith change depending on the suffering we experience? Does our image of the Good Shepherd change when we have experienced suffering.  Suffering will almost always cause us to look at and rethink our relationship with the Good Shepherd and who He is for us.

We are living in a harsh world and suffering is inevitable. Everyone whether they know the Good Shepherd or not have faced or will face a certain amount of conflict, trials, and tribulations on this journey of life. A lot of the suffering that comes our way we do not deserve unless we have made bad choices. No one escapes the struggles of life and our goodness or our faith do not make us immune from suffering.

Some days it feels like I am wearing cement boots as I plod through my life. Some mornings I wake up and dread the day ahead for one reason or another. Sometimes I still ask the same questions I did in my childhood when I was suffering. Why? Why everything at once? Why don’t you step in and help? Can’t you provide me with just a moment to catch my breath? One day, as I sat in silence and in tears, I started thinking, “I am looking and expecting a spiritual firewall from the Good Shepherd to protect me and when I don’t get it I feel like shaking my fists at Him and demanding to know why this is happening to me! I am so busy looking for Him to provide me protection, I am missing out on His support in my time of heartache and suffering!”

So, what does the Good Shepherd want me to do? He wants me to change my thinking and start looking at my suffering as a possibility for me to grow. He wants me to stand in the midst of difficulty and allow myself to be opened and changed by the experiences I am going through and will go through. He wants me to be able to stand with Him in the midst of my suffering and the messy reality of my pain. He cares more about where I am growing towards than what I am going through. He desires the end result of my suffering to be greater strength, greater wisdom, and greater common sense and knowledge. In my times of suffering He will help me discover my potential for growth and help me strengthen my shortcomings.

Suffering can teach us a lot. It can bring our image of the Good Shepherd into sharper focus, helping us to see what is real and what is not. It can offer hope in the Good Shepherd who walked through suffering and death and transformed death into life again. May I never forget that He came to earth in human form to go through human suffering and pain. Three times He asked if there was some other way for the prophesy to be fulfilled so He wouldn’t have to suffer.

For each one of us we have a choice about how we will respond to suffering. We can resist it and fall into bitterness and despair and allow it to undermine all the aspects of our lives. We can blame Him for it and then allow it to bring our spirit down so that Satan can attack us and then we really feel defeated. Often times we listen to the voice of the naysayer instead of the Good Shepherd. Satan is only full of lies and empty promises.

Or, we can gather our strength, shift our internal attitudes, and make the choice to find meaning through our suffering. The Good Shepherd is merciful and good and He knows us inside and out. When we face suffering in our lives we sometimes forget that there is a comfort and peace that is there waiting for us if we open our hearts and receive it. Facing life’s trails and tribulations is a mysterious component of our lives that only He understands. Look for Him in the person who sits and listens with their heart when you need to pour out yours, and look for Him in the growth and peace that comes from those who have been through dark valleys.

I am starting to examine my personal responses and feelings about my own suffering and heartache. Even though this is scary for me, I am asking The Good Shepherd for the courage to stay close to Him as He goes before me, keeping my eyes on the light, even in the midst of the darkness. I want to be able to emerge, walking one step at a time with a deeper sense of life and faith.

Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 1 Peter 5:9-10(NLT)