Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
THERE is this old cliché that does
the rounds: God will not give you more than you can handle. Platitudes such as
these have done harm.
I have found in my experience of
life that it has broken me at times. Yet, paradoxically, the very process of
being broken has made meaning of the suffering, as it opened the door to something
God was doing.
The first time I was broken by
grief I was so smashed up on the rocks of life I thought of ending it. But in
the process of being blindsided and overwhelmed I did the only thing I could do
— I called out to God, please God, help
me!
Not only did God help me, He made
Himself known to me, in a real, relatable, tangible way.
The fact is we suffer in this life
if we’re honest. John Chrysostom (347 – 407) says, “we have sustained a life
more grievous than countless deaths; fearing and trembling through so many
days, and being suspicious of our very shadows… in our sleep, [waking] up,
through constant agony of mind.” His point is God knows what we suffer and His Presence
in our lives, and His salvation, is our mercy.
This life pushes us over the brink.
And it’s as we fall into that dark chasm that God rescues us, when we’re
honest before Him; as we confess our fear, and what it is that makes us feel we
cannot cope.
God does not typically provide a
magical ‘way out’, but the rescue He provides works over the days and weeks
that ensue. We find that, though we lament our suffering, God gives us a way to
endure it.
We find that God gives us the
resolve and capacity to search. We crave meaning, a purpose for what we suffer.
And God delivers on what is promised: if we knock at the door of inquiry, that
door will be opened to us; not of perfectly satisfactory answers, but of peace
to accept what we cannot change, which is supremely better amid this mysterious
life.
In our suffering, God provides more
than a magical rescue. He enables us to endure, creates meaning, and teaches us
the peace of patient acceptance.
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