SUFFERING IS INEVITABLE                                         Job 5:1-18

“Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” (v7)

(6) How can we, as Christians, cope with the problem of unmerited suffering? What in life do we put in place or need to understand if we are to become strong at this place where so many are broken? First we recognize that all creation has been greatly disrupted by sin, and with it entered underserved suffering. What follows is something I read in an articles by Dr. E. Stanley Jones, a missionary to India. In an Indian palace centuries ago, a child was born whose parents decided to keep all signs of decay and death from him. When he was taken into the garden, maids were sent before him to remove the decaying flowers and fallen leaves so that he would be protected from any indication of death. One day however, he left his home and while wandering through the streets, came across a corps. His reaction was so strong that he set about establishing the teaching that, as life is fundamentally suffering, the only thing to do is to escape into Nirvana, the state of extinction of self. That young man was Gautama Buddha, not only in India, but around the world.  His philosophy is an extreme and dramatic result of trying to protect oneself from the realities of life, one of which is suffering. The Christian faith is the opposite of that. It exposes us to the very heart of suffering – the cross. Jesus takes the suffering and turns it into salvation. We need not be afraid to face the fact that suffering may come our way, because we know that with God it can be redeemed.

PRAYER LINE: Father, I am so thankful for the message of the cross. Thank You, too, that You can bring good out of all things – even suffering. Amen (EDWJ).

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It’s not too late for a fresh start.