-
-
Featured Article
Aug
25
He scourges every son He acknowledges…
Posted By Kay | Filed Under Kay Vardeleon
The strongest argument atheists have for the non-existence of God is the presence of suffering. For surely, if God exists, and God is love and God is good, He would put an end to suffering. The presence of pain therefore justifies God’s absence…or worse His rather sadistic nature.
Christianity doesn’t go around the question of suffering. It doesn’t deny its existence, neither does it does it fully ascribe it’s causality to the presence of evil or man’s fallen nature. In fact, Christianity embraces the idea that suffering is the will of God. Indeed, the Christian God is the only God who came to die, and die in a violent way He did.
I remember as a child hearing a retreat master say that the more you suffer, the more God loves you. I remember the feeling of indignation. No, my God is not like that! It doesn’t make sense.
This Sunday’s epistle though agree with that retreat master. Hebrew 12 states:
Brothers and sisters,you have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.”
Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.
So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.
A parent would refuse a child to wander past his crib if there is a greater possibility of pain outside the crib’s limits. A parent would not give their child all the toys they want, even if they could afford it, if he senses that that this laxity would just end up creating low frustration tolerance. A parent would not let you marry someone no matter how in love you are with them, if they sense they would just hurt you in the long term.
God is parent. And all parents protect us with limits. These limits yes, crates suffering, but the suffering it creates is a training ground for bigger values. Suffering means that our character is being strengthened so that we may learn to trust completely in God’s providence and comfort. He does this because He knows that the only ever complete happiness we can find is in Him. And unless we can have complete reliance on His will, we will never grow.
Spirituality is a muscle….as well as a gift of grace. True, God’s grace makes spirituality irresistable, but at the same time it entails effort and discipline. The test of faith is not in moments of plenty, comfort and positivity. God’s test of faith is in the loss that comes as naturally as living in this finite world.
Misery as I have come to understand it, is not God’s neglect. Misery, I know now, is about man’s pride.
Comments
One Response to “He scourges every son He acknowledges…”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Your closing says it all. I couldnt agree with you more. Thank you for this wonderful reflection.