Finding God in a Suffering World

 

“All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.” ~Helen Keller

“How have your challenges changed you?” I asked.

Her posture shifted, and she sat up confidently. Without a moment’s hesitation, she answered.

“My challenges have not changed me. They complete me.”

I sat in awe, rendered speechless. Maybe it was because the young woman who sat next to me was a friend I had grown to love deeply. Perhaps I was unable to find words because deep down, I had anticipated a response that reflected her as a victim rather than an overcomer. It may have been the quick and strong nod of her head that ended her sentence, letting me know that what she said was definitively true.

Then again, maybe I was speechless because I knew her challenges.

Syria is her home. Just short of graduating university, she had no choice but to leave. She and her new husband arrived in a refugee camp. She said when she first saw the tent they would stay in, she felt as if her life had stopped. The two—so in love—spent their first year of marriage not honeymooning in the Caribbean or choosing paint colors for a new suburban home, but in a tent with a flap of canvas where there should have been a threshold, a door, and the start of a fairytale life.

Our world is full of suffering. Our marriages are fractured, our politics are angry, our wars drop bombs on children, our hospital beds are over-occupied by cancer, and our children’s eyes are marred by images of hate and violence. Our world is bursting at the seams with suffering.

Most of us try to distance ourselves from that suffering. We mitigate risk and insulate ourselves from our own hardship or anyone else’s—a natural and understandable response.

But when we distance ourselves from suffering, we never have a chance to meet the sufferer. And when we do not meet the sufferers, we never have the opportunity to meet the overcomers.

My friend from Syria is anything but a sufferer. In the midst of challenges that would paralyze me with pain and despair, she adjusts her posture, takes a step forward, and overcomes. I have sat face to face with many people like her. The world is full of overcomers—and they champion suffering not when it is over, but right in its midst.

Many people have asked me, “Where do you see God in all of this?” Answering that question is not always easy, and I am learning that the image of God and the most remarkable acts of strength are often revealed in the most mundane moments and unexpected people.

I see God in the courageous choice of a refugee to wake up and face another day with the determination to do more than just survive. God is there when the patient with cancer shouts through tears, “I will not give up.” I see God in the people who step courageously into the muck of other people’s suffering and say, “I see you and your humanity, and I will bear a portion of your burden in love.” He is there in our cries for justice, our pleadings for peace, and our longing for a world restored.

“Where are you, God?”

Even in this question, I feel his presence.

[Tweet “Overcoming does not need to wait until the suffering has stopped. It shows up as we endure it.”]

We are invited into a story of a God who bore the burden, who not only lived in a world full of suffering, but carried it on his shoulders in the form of a wooden cross, torn flesh, and a pierced side. He, too, cried out: “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?”

He died, and right in the midst of hopelessness so great, and in the midst of despair that made the earth shudder and heave, Jesus overcame. Our God entered into our broken world to show us a life of freedom and peace. He stepped into our humanity and overcame death—not by stepping around suffering, but by immersing himself in it.

[Tweet “In our world, so full of suffering, we must choose to look for God.”] Because when we look for God, there we find him. And he has already overcome.

Jesus – As our hearts ache and our tears sting for the suffering of the world, open our eyes to see you, the ultimate overcomer. You are our greatest resting place in times of hurt and anguish. You are our source of empathy, because we worship a God who does not watch us suffer, but has suffered with us. May your tears over the brokenness of this world bring comfort, and may your promise of restoration lead us to usher heaven to earth through compassion and love for a hurting world.

Scripture for Reflection

 How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.

The Lord replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. (Hab. 1:1-5 NLT)

 Reach for More

 Enter into a practice of looking for God. When we are overwhelmed by our own suffering and the suffering of the world, it is easy to lose sight of God. Sometimes it’s difficult to believe he even exists in the midst of the brokenness. When we seek him, though, he shows up in the most unexpected places and people. He can be found everywhere. We all bear his image, so look for him in other people. He created this world, so look for his presence in nature and creation.

This week, when you do see him, acknowledge it in some way by sharing with someone or by writing it down.

Please, come back and leave a comment telling us about how God spoke to you this week, or share your progress on social media using the hashtag #tgtreachformore. We would love to hear from you.

Jamie Resler is an unintentional nomad, wandering and wondering through the world with a deep love of adventure, culture, and people. With a heart bent toward the Middle East, she is an advocate for refugees, inspired by resilience and perseverant hope. Through it all, she steadily encounters a world that reflects the image of God intertwined in beauty and brokenness, tears and laughter.