Lent series: Suffering, part 5, Called by name

SUFFERING (a weekly Lenten reflection - part 5, Called by name)

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4)

James tells us that suffering tests our faith - our response to hardships, will expose what we truly believe about the utter goodness of God, and about our belovedness, as His sons and daughters.

To become mature and complete (verse 4), or, in other words, Christlike, can only really be determined by the degree to which we trust God to do what is right, when everything inside us screams, NO, at the awful situation that we find ourselves in.

The well-loved theologian and author, AW Tozer once said this, ‘“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”. He is, of course, absolutely right because this image of God whether held by a follower of Jesus or by an atheist, determines everything - what we look like out there in the workplace, in the classroom, with family and friends - how we make decisions, confront evil, process suffering and disappointment, sadness and joy.

I wonder what picture of God you have in your mind? Is He, for example, an old man with a white beard, up in the sky somewhere - a nice ol’ guy, but pretty ineffective when it comes to what's going on down here? Or perhaps He is a strict and harsh headteacher type of character, with a little stick, waiting for you to trip up? Maybe the image is more of a deity so busy running the universe with no time for your little concerns. Or is He some sort of a control freak ruining all your fun, insisting that you live according to His rules, or perhaps He is a mixture of all of the above.

If you see Him like any of these, you probably will not be able to trust Him in your suffering. That old man with a beard, up there, won’t really come to your aid, and the strict headmaster type of God, is unlikely to be compassionate in the face of the tragedy.

Who is He, then? And can we relate to God in such a way that we trust Him 100% when things go well, but also when things go badly?

"And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:18)

God has never stopped speaking about His longing that we should call Him Father. Not because we deserve it, have worked hard for it - not because of our accomplishments or talents, achievements or good works. No. Because of love.

If we do not have a genuinely honest and uniquely personal relationship with God, as Father, as the only One who has always seen us and known us, it is likely that trusting Him will be problematic for us, especially in the darkness of our suffering.

And yes - we know all this in our heads, but do we live believing God to be our good Father, day after day, when it’s tough, when we want to give up?

When my children were very little, we went to Pakistan as medical missionaries. Steve was a general surgeon, and I, a nurse. Serving God in this way had been our dream for many years. We had spent a long time planning, and preparing. We had gone to Bible college, and had travelled the length and breadth of the UK raising financial support. We had endured medicals and psychological tests, language learning courses, and finally, tearful goodbyes and fierce hugs. You could say we had sacrificed a lot - family, culture, home, friendships, church. In return, we faced language barriers, loneliness, new cultural norms and unspoken ways, bewilderment and homesickness.

As the ‘honeymoon’ period wore off, I faced many hours alone with three small children. Coping with the intense heat, with the fine dust that made its way into every drawer, and cupboard, enduring the unconcealed stares of strangers on the street and unable to make myself understood, I began to feel as though God had left me.

So, when the proverbial ‘rubber hit the road’, I fell apart, because I could not be sure that God really was good, could be trusted and loved me. I would say all the right things, but my heart was not in agreement with my head!

At some point we have to acknowledge that God might NOT be who we think He is, because when life is smooth and easy, we can manage with a ‘less than’ image of God, but when the crisis hits, it is not enough.

To quote Nick Cave again, ‘suffering is, by its nature, the primary mechanism of change… it somehow presents us with the opportunity to be transformed into something else, something different, hopefully something better… this change is not something we necessarily seek out; rather, change is often brought to bear upon us, through a shattering of our former selves…”

My self was certainly shattered and through the brokenness, God showed me much about Himself, that I may never have learned or understood, had I not come to the end of myself.

“And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—
secret riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name”
(Isaiah 45:3)