The Devotional – 023 – Suffering

The Devotional – 023 – Suffering

Proverbs 16:33 – The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is form the LORD.

 

 Comments and challenges

A host of events these days brings to mind an event in February 1983 when a little girl of five went to be with the LORD, her name is Stephanie… she is my daughter. Now I am not alone in this, all the people I know and love; cherish the wonder of birth and the suffering assigned to death. Truth is; none of us alive are exempt from these moments in time. Also in short time life takes no rest, there is often a new moment just around the corner; another birth maybe, or perhaps another death, events that rapidly need an understanding and caring hand.

About one week after my daughter passed from this life; to life eternal with the LORD Jesus, I was the Command Duty Officer on the submarine I was on. A call came from the local police department that one of our sailors was found in his car, in a parking lot deceased. The car was running and a hose was extending from the tail pipe to the back window; our sailor had committed suicide. Someone had to come down to the emergency room at the local hospital to identify the man.

Since I was the CDO, it was my duty to go and identify the man; another chief said, Jesse with the loss of your daughter last week, you should let someone else do this. “I can handle this” I said and he said; “well then I am going with you”. “Okay, we will go together” I assigned my duty to my second in command and off we went to the hospital. It is a good thing my friend and companion went with me. You see, sometime before; that would be over a year before, the one lying motionless on that bed was one who along with several men prayed for my safe journey from an area near the Arctic Circle back home when we found out that Stephanie had Leukemia.

Life is fragile from birth to death; many life changing events are like that of an express train, barely slowing down and believe it or not, it is God who carries us through all of them. 1 Corinthians 1:3 says this; “Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble (suffering tribulation) with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Suffering and comfort fit in our lives like a comfortable pair of warm gloves on a cold day.

Usually with tribulational suffering there is no time to pass the test and in these special events there is much to do with comforting the hurting, even though we are in need of comfort too. Our present sufferings cannot be compared to the eternal results in Glory. In the day when the results are revealed and God is glorified for His timing of all events we will understand why life plays out as it does, Romans 8:18.

It is explained to me that only the saints of God can move effectively through these moments, yes with tears of sorrow, but yes again with tears of joy because of Jesus Christ who as the writer of Hebrews says: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside very weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God.

If you need someone to go with you (at any time) give me a shout and I will be there; there was a time when I was not available and that was a time when I did not understand sin and the grace of God. A time when all sin was purged by the Lamb who has taken away the sin of the world by His sacrifice (the Blood of Christ). In selfish ignorance, I choose to ignore this truth and a path of deception and destruction was left in my wake, but when Jesus personally came to be Light and Truth in my heart, His grace became sufficient and His strength was made perfect for me and anyone who call upon the LORD to help them endure the thorns of living and dying.