We have pointed out in our ascent to grow closer to God we will face persecution and that will and does cause suffering, but that suffering is a direct result of the decision we have made to follow Christ. We have been warned that it will happen, and we are comforted in the fact that in the end the rewards are more than worth the trial we face. But sometime there is suffering that we cannot explain in these terms it is unexpected, it is a suffering we did not see coming.
While suffering is not unique to being human, as we know and see suffering in all of nature, human suffering does have a certain uniqueness about it. As humans when we suffer whether it be physically or emotionally, we have the awareness to question on why we are suffering. If we know why we are suffering such as we break a bone, get sick or a love one dies, what we then tend to do is question the why we are suffering. We look for reasons outside of the norm so to speak we look to supernatural or spiritual reasons, we question whether the universe is against us. The next step we might take is to search for a way t alleviate the suffering, either in our own lives or in the lives of those we love. Suffering is a reality we cannot avoid and Psalm 130 address this reality from the perspective that suffering is real but more that that God is real and present in our suffering.
Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
The Psalm begins with a declaration, crying out “Out of the depths I cry to you O Lord! O Lord hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” This a cry for help but above that it is a declaration that we suffer. It is foolish to deny otherwise and to deny suffer leads us down paths we do not nor need to go. You cannot watch, TV, explore the internet, or read a magazine without finding a show, article or internet advertisement that does not promote the idea that if you are not happy you are flawed in some way and it needs to be fixed. The culture we live in sees no value in suffering, we live in a culture that views suffering either as a form of weakness, or as something that has no benefit and must be alleviated at all cost. This type of thinking has led to some very drastic and immoral solutions.
Some of the most liberal nations in the world are also seen as some of the happiest and yet the suicide rate among these nations is are some of the highest in the world. Many of these nations allow for assisted suicide and not just for patient that are terminal, but in cases of mental depression and in one nation it is legal for a parent to have a mentally challenged or handicapped child euthanized. This denial of suffering has begun to invade the United States as several states have passed laws making assisted suicide legal. While a Christian never welcomes any form of suffering, as no one should, we do not see it in the same light as the world as something that needs to be eradicated at all cost, we also do not see it as some sort of badge of honor something makes us more righteous or brings us honor. There is after all some suffering we get into because of our own sinful actions and nature, suffering that really is useless and unnecessary. A Christians sees suffering as a reality of living, the difference between that and the world is that in the midst of our suffering we immerse our suffering in God.
Peter Forsyth said of suffering, “Our very pain is a sign of God’s remembrance of us for it would be so much worst if we were left in ghastly isolation” Many times it is in our suffering that our relationship with God grows the strongest. God is spoken of eight times within the Psalm. When we are suffering it is essential for us to remember that God is attentive and hears our pleas for mercy, that he never leaves us alone. For those that are in Christ we can rest in the assurance that we serve a Lord who knows our suffering. The book of Hebrews says, “since then we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens. Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.” Jesus more than any of us knows what it means to suffer and is present in our suffering. Now that we have faced the two realities, that suffering is real and a part of our human existence and that God is real and present in our suffering we must look to how we are to respond to suffering.
The Psalm gives us two responses to suffering, we are to wait “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits”. We live in a world that promotes immediate gratification and we often have this same response when we suffer, we want it over and we want it over now. When the reality is often, we are told that we must wait. God has three answers to prayer, Yes, No and Wait, wait being the hardest, especially when we are in a season of suffering. Yet God’s greatest blessing are often found when we wait. The second response is to watch, “My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning.” The earth turns, the moon rises, and the sun set and then the dawn comes, and the watchman does nothing that influences any of these things. In the military we were often assigned a watch and the hardest watch was the night watch. Hard because it was one in this there was the least amount of activity, but also had the greatest opportunity for chaos to erupt. You had to be alert even in the midst of the boredom aware of everything that went on around you. In a combat situation you had to be even more alert and would with great relief anticipate the coming dawn. You had confidence in the dark of the night though because you knew you had backup, that help was a call away. The watchman knows the dawn is coming and he waits, but he is alert to danger, he guards the homes and the animals against approaching danger, until the light of day. We are content to w=be watchful because we know that in the end God is with us and no harm can come to us, that we are assured of God’s promises. Waiting and watching are inherently tied to hope.
Hope is not doing nothing or running around in a desperate panicky state searching or waiting for the suffering to end. It is not putting on a happy face It means we push forward or as Paul puts it forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. Confident that God will provide the means to and conclusion to our suffering. Hope is not dreaming, it is not putting our hope in an illusion, that will protect us from our pain. It is hope that creates in us an expectation that God will do what he said he will do. It is hope not based in fantasy but, built upon the foundation of God’s promises past, present and future. It is not hope placed in the hands of man.
When we suffer, we attract two types of people, the helper and the accuser. The helper wants to give us all sorts of advice on how we can avoid, shorten and end our suffering. They at first appear to be sympathetic to our plight, but if our suffering continues, they often abandon us, seeing us as a lost cause. Then there are those that have no sympathy, they are the accusers, they only offer accusations and condemnation, pointing out to us that our suffering is a result of our on actions. Reminding us of the poor choices we have made or point our that our suffering is because we have offended God in some way and we are being punished. They offer no hope, as man is incapable of giving us the hope we need, that hope can only come from God. These people are painters, they give us a picture of our suffering as seen by their eyes and the paint us a picture of their perceived reality, drawing on their own experiences and then judge us accordingly.
God is an ophthalmologist, he corrects our vision and gives us the ability to see the world clearly and with reality. He helps us see that suffering is a reality of the human condition, more importantly he helps us with the reality that God is in the midst of our suffering. If we are over come with the fear that our suffering is because of our sin he helps us see his forgiveness, “But with you there is forgiveness.” He helps us see that he is and always will be steadfast in his love for us, “For with the Lord there is steadfast love.” That we have hope in suffering because we are redeemed and given the assurance that this life is but a vapor and we have eternal joy awaiting us.
Psalm 130 does not give us insight as to why we suffer, it gives us the reality that we will suffer, it is not a matter of if but when we suffer. It gives us insight into how we respond to suffering makes an incredible difference in how we live our lives. We either suffer without hope or we suffer with the enduring hope that is offered by God in his mercy and grace. It helps us understand that to reach great heights in our walk we must go into the valleys and we do not trend the valley floor alone, and without hope. Paul points out in his letter to the Romans that three of the marks of a true Christian are that they rejoice in hope, are patient in tribulation and constant in prayer. When suffering comes, we wait patiently on the Lord, we are praying to him for guidance and watching to see where he is working. We wait, and we watch, as we watch we pray and as we pray, we rejoice.
