Last Thursday, I was invited to speak to a group of persons, all above the age of sixty, who were acquainted with grief and loss. Near the end of the class, we participated in a time of sharing. Their stories of resilience in the face of suffering had a great impact on me. One precious lady told of being unable to see, or be with, her husband while he suffered and ultimately died from Covid-19. I could not get her assessment of “NO CLOSURE” out of my mind. Later, as I reflected on the extent of the pain that has been inflicted upon the world as a result of this ongoing pandemic, I was overwhelmed with this thought: It is very easy to just focus on the statistics and fail to grasp that each number represents a person made in the image of God. Furthermore, each of those persons had families who are now trying to make sense of the loss that has, without time to prepare, been unleashed upon them. Most people seem to respond in one of two ways: affix blame on earthly leaders or accuse God of being unjust. A more productive approach is to search for less obvious answers, which would include becoming open to God’s usage of suffering to develop our character and clarify our eternal destiny. The following excerpts from Embracing Suffering, my first blog, illustrate how God has used suffering to mold me into a more useful servant in his Kingdom:
“When I was thirty-five years old, I was introduced to the first of three seasons of suffering that have defined my life and continue to this very day. On July 27, 1978, our youngest son, four days before his seventh birthday, was killed by a car in front of our house. In 1994 -1995, I went through 18 months of depression. And now, for nearly 17 years, I have watched as Dementia has moved from being an insignificant inconvenience to a disease that is robbing the love of my life of her personality and will eventually take her life. Let me emphatically note that God did not take my son’s life; he was not responsible for my depression; and he did not give Linda Alzheimer’s. All three result from living in a fallen world; however, God, in his infinite wisdom, did allow each of them to touch me, my wife and my family.
The first two seasons of suffering greatly differ from the last one in that Linda and I shared our pain and provided comfort to each other. That was also true in this present season until the last six years. At that time, I then moved into the role of caregiver and the Holy Spirit has become my best friend; not suddenly, but incrementally as I have grasped:
- My life is inextricably connected to God by his love: And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them (I John 4:16 NIV).
- God has a plan for my life: ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).
- Suffering is to be embraced and not seen as an enemy to spirituality: Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Romans 5:3-5 NIV).
I am certainly not implying that my life is now a bowl of cherries and everything is on cruise control. There are still many days when I am reduced to sobbing and crying out to God that I cannot take it for another moment. The beautiful thing is that those times are followed by a profound awareness that I am not alone, and God will never leave me to my own devices.”
Please know that my experience is not unique. A song such as Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus, written in 1922, is still relevant because it wonderfully presents a promise of God’s deliverance in seasons of suffering. It is an invitation to see Breaking Light in the Darkness:
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.
Ron Harvard Ministries 