Suffering: it sucks. We all experience suffering in some way. Some of us deal with financial difficulties, problems with a terrible boss at work, or maybe you have been searching for that one person in the world that is going to the be the Juliet to your Romeo or vice versa. Whatever the case may be, we all go through some sort of suffering in our lives. And from this, we can go two directions. We can let it rule our lives and make us miserable, or we can tackle it head on...but not in the way that you would think.
Psalm 37 asks the question, "Why do the wicked prosper and the good suffer?" Good question. In our present day society, we see many examples of the wicked prospering while we sit in our suffering. That jerk in accounting just got a raise, while you bust your hump and get nothing. Or the captain of the football team gets another award and praised by the whole school while you get a 4.0 and still nobody knows who you are. These are all "first world" examples of suffering, but let's take a look at what this Psalm tells us about true suffering. God tells us that we have to "wait for him" (Psalm 37:7). I don't want to wait. "The poor will inherit the earth" (37:11). I sure as heck don't want to be poor. "The righteous one is generous and gives" (37:21). I want to keep my stuff. And the good "may stumble" (37:23). Yeah, I want to stand upright on my feet. All these things are going to happen to those who strive for righteousness. It is inevitable. But, it is what we do with this suffering that truly matters.
Picture a timeline. This timeline reaches from the beginning of the world, to the very end. OK got it? Now, try and find your short lifespan on there. You can't. The time we have here on earth is so minute that you would never be able to place it on a timeline. So, as a human being, I should probably make good with the time that I have. There are a ton of good things we can do in our time, but today we continue with the theme of suffering. What can I do with my suffering that will make an impact? This may sound obvious and trivial, but offer it up! And there are so many things for which you can offer your suffering. It could be for drought or the end to abortion or for the wars all over the world. OR...or you could offer it up for that guy who got the raise in accounting. OR...or you could offer it up for that football player that got all the recognition. If it is the wicked that are prospering and receiving all the praise and glory, then they probably could use those prayers and there is nothing more honorable on this earth than to suffer for the kingdom of God and His people...all of His people.
We all suffer. Now, the suffering that we experience in this lifetime is nothing like the hardships that Peter and the rest of the apostles went through. I can walk down the street proclaiming that I am a Christian to anyone and yeah, I might get some strange looks, but my life is never in danger. Some of you reading this may have never had to face any real suffering. I know I sure didn't when I was younger. Things came easy to me. I got good grades and was halfway decent at throwing a baseball and had a good group of friends around me. But in an instant all that can be taken away, and what remains is the opportunity to build a relationship with God. Take that opportunity! If we just let our problems sit on the skin instead of offering them up to the divine healer, they eventually will get infected. And after that, the infection starts to spread and impact other parts of your body. We cannot let that happen to our souls. They are far too precious and important to let anything happen to them. So we need to stop trying to save our own souls and fix our own problems and let Jesus do it. He's better at it anyway.
In Christ,
Josh
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