Healing Rays of Righteousness

When there seems to be no answers to our pain and suffering, how can Christian faith encourage our confidence that God truly does see, know, and care about what is happening to us?  To unwrap a response to that question, I’m asking you to ponder a very important question – “On a scale of 1-10, how precious do you think you are to God?”

Philip Yancey, the author of “Disappointment with God” says that he was surprised to find so many expressions of doubt and anguish in the Psalms and the writings of Old Testament prophets.  However, “In striking contrast, the New Testament Epistles contain very little of this anguish.  The problem of pain has surely not gone away: …. But nowhere do I find the piercing question ‘Does God care?’  I see nothing resembling the accusation, Has God forgotten to be merciful?  The reason for the change, I believe, is that Jesus had answered that question for the witnesses who wrote the Epistles.  In Jesus, God gave us a face.”

At the beginning of his Gospel, John introduces Jesus’ birth into our world – “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  …The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (Jn. 1:1-2,14).

John continues by telling us that God so loved the world, you and me, that he sent his one and only Son, Jesus, into our world as a helpless, needy human baby just like you and me, to suffer the growing-up pains and temptations of human childhood, teenager, and young adult years, just like you and me.  And then in response to God’s call to be our Savior in the world, he was subjected to the sufferings of ridicule, rejection, injustice, and death as a human being, just like you and me.

Why did Jesus need to suffer?  Hebrews 2:14-18 tells us “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity ….”  He had to become just like us,  “fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”  And also, “because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (tested).”

If I understand this correctly, it is only because you and I are so very precious to God, that Jesus willingly laid aside his glorious royalty, his all-mighty sovereignty, his perfect holiness, to come down and live as a human being in our human world, in order to taste the bitterness of sin and experience first-hand the painful sufferings of human life, so that he could rescue, redeem and reclaim us as his brothers and sisters in the great, eternal family of God.

This is the good news the angels proclaimed on the night of his birth into our human world – “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

That, my fellow human being, is how precious you are to God.   “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).

I agree with Philip Yancey that in Jesus’ coming to earth, God gave us a human face so that we could better see and know that God truly does love us and cares about what is happening to us.  During the three years that the disciples lived and traveled with Jesus they learned first-hand about how deeply God felt about suffering by watching Jesus respond to all kinds of sufferings.  No, Jesus did not solve the problem of pain and suffering, but he did consistently live and demonstrate that God does care for those who are experiencing all kinds of pain and suffering.  And so, because of Jesus, I can trust that God truly understands my pain, that I matter to God, and that he cares. 

And my Christian faith is very simply my believing, trusting, worshipful response to God’s unconditional, undeserved, unfathomable love for me and all creation.  Even though I don’t always understand and may question his ways in my life and world, my faith keeps me secure in the knowledge that God knows, God sees, and God deeply cares about what is happening to me, and has promised never to leave me nor forsake me.  And I have found that my times of suffering, more than any other experience, gently led me into this deeper and more intimate relationship with God; and his comforting, healing grace has always been sufficient for me.

Furthermore, my Christian faith is anchored in the knowledge that everything is under the control of the almighty, all-knowing, sovereign God who loves me more than I can ever imagine.

 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted (tested) in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin.  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:14-16).