One of Jesus' names, Immanuel, means 'God with us'. It has been the Christian experience that God is present - in some mysterious way - in the midst of suffering. The God who suffered on the cross continues to suffer in the sufferings of others. This is no theory but a living witness to God's presence. In this section we shall consider what this means through looking at a variety of personal testimonies.
GOD'S PRESENCE IN SUFFERING
Jane Grayshon, on Encounter, ITV, 12.1.91 “There was one particular time when I was very aware of God's stepping in, in a very personal way - that was when I'd had yet another operation. I suddenly became aware of God's presence right next to me, in such a close way that I felt as if I could reach out my hand and touch him. After that acute awareness of him being so close... I knew that he still had me very firmly in his hands and that whatever he was to do - whether he decided to allow me to stay as I am, for the time being, or whether he healed me - he was the one who was in control: and I knew that he was to be trusted...
I am really encouraged when people say to me that they have almost glimpsed God in me. It's not because I'm wonderful. It's because God is, and he really is there, and I think that maybe he's asked me to show that he can be with us even when we're going through it.”
In her book HIV Positive Debra Jarvis has collected together a number of interviews with AIDS patients. One of these spoke in the following way:
“I had asked God into my life long before I was diagnosed with AIDS. After my diagnosis, some of my friends wondered how I could still believe in God. But God's peace and love are even more evident to me now. I am not saying that I never get scared or lonely. I guess most important is that I know Jesus is right there with me and suffering with me. Sometimes my heart cries out in a language that only God can hear. So my friends are not able to hear those things. But I know that God hears me.”
Prayer of Mother Teresa.
“Jesus, my suffering Lord, Grant that today and every day, I may see You in the person of Your sick ones, and that in caring for them I may serve You.”
Some people have witnessed God's presence in and through other people. David Watson takes Richard Wurmbrand as an example:
“God never promises to save us from adversity, only to be with us in the midst of it. Richard Wurmbrand is a Rumanian pastor who endured fourteen years in various Communist prisons, where he was repeatedly tortured for his faith in Christ. 'They broke four vertebrae in my back and many other bones. They carved me in a dozen places. They burned me and cut eighteen holes in my body.' For three years he was in solitary confinement thirty feet below ground level, during which time the only persons he saw were his torturers. In despair he asked God to speak to him, to say something to him. At that moment he heard a terrible piercing cry. It was from another unfortunate victim who was being tortured. But Wurmbrand heard it as a cry from God's heart. God was revealing what he felt like when he saw his children in pain. 'In all their affliction he was afflicted' (Isaiah 63:9). God shares in our suffering. In that filthy underground prison Wurmbrand discovered a beauty in Christ that he had not known before. He literally danced for joy.”
Joni Eareckson, Joni
“Pressures seemed greatest at night. Perhaps therapy had gone badly that day. Or no one came to visit. Or maybe Mrs Barber was being mean to me again. Whatever the problem, I'd want to cry. I felt even more frustrated because I couldn't cry, for there was no one to wipe my eyes and help me blow my nose. The Scriptures were encouraging, and I'd apply the reality and truth of them to my own special needs. During these difficult midnight hours, I'd visualize Jesus standing beside my Stryker. I imagined Him as a strong, comforting person with a deep, reassuring voice, saying specifically to me, 'Lo, I am with you always. If I loved you enough to die for you, don't you think I ought to know best how to run your life even if it means your being paralyzed?' The reality of this Scripture was that He was with me, now. Beside me in my own room! That was the comfort I needed.
Jesus did know what it was like not to be able to move - not to be able to scratch your nose, shift your weight, wipe your eyes. He was paralyzed on the cross. He could not move His arms or legs. Christ knew exactly how I felt!”
Margaret Spufford, Celebration
“ On those terrible children's wards I could neither have worshipped nor respected any God who had not Himself cried, 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Only because it was so, only because the Creator loved His creation enough to become helpless with it and suffer in it, totally overwhelmed by the pain of it, I found there was still hope.
Because He Himself has suffered, says the author of the letter to the Hebrews, He is able to help those who suffer now; but not, in my experience, by removing the suffering. The beauty of the twisted tree is still brought out through its contortion.”
It has been the experience of many Christians that God suffers alongside his people, and m their suffering gives his peace and love. But, as Margaret Spufford suggests, God is also working in the suffering to transform it and to re-create and redeem it. Frances Young summarizes her faith in the following way:
“ The cross of Jesus is not just the story of a man being a martyr, but the story of God taking responsibility for all the evil and sin and suffering with which his creation is afflicted, by entering into it and going through it, so that by his presence, the situation may be transformed recreation begin to happen.”
Revelation 21:3-4 expresses the promise of a new creation. This is the Christian's future hope:-
“God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”
FOOTPRINTS
'One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. 'Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.'
The Lord replied, 'My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.'
It is the Christian belief that whilst this transformation can begin here and now it will find its completion when the Kingdom of God is established in its fullness.
BEYOND PAIN - THE FUTURE HOPE
Malcom Muggeridge “I look forward to death with colossal joy!”
Christians believe that suffering and death are not the end of our lot. They look forward to a continuing relationship with God beyond mortal life. It is this hope that has kept them strong in the midst of appalling sufferings.
St Paul wrote, 'I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us' (Romans 8:18).
He wrote about being 'afflicted... perplexed.., persecuted.., struck down', yet he could say that 'this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, (2 Corinthians 4:17).
The secret for Paul was to keep his eyes on the eternal perspective, and this put all personal sufferings into proportion:” We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are Unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
As David Watson writes:
“Without this dimension of eternity and without a strong hope in heaven, the problems of our human existence might fill us all with despair. But once we know the love of God for ourselves and believe in life after death – or life through death - our outlook on this life, with all its pains and sorrows, can be transformed.”
THINKING IT THROUGH
Whilst many have felt God's presence with them in their suffering, there are many others who have merely felt alone. If God is in all suffering, why do you think some never experience his presence?