Tagged: suffering

  I hear your soul, friend. Honest  Raw.   I am witness to the miracle Fragile Rare.   Like that fox last week Emerging from the brambles Stopping Staring Inviting connection.   Your soul  Came out of hiding Timidly approaching Mine Is she safe?   Words pushed out like birth Startled By the sound  Of your soul’s primal Cry.   Your truth is painful Bloody Wailing.   My soul explodes with anguish Listening To your hurt.   It tries to run away Yet I resolve To stay with you  Here In the discomfort Of listening well.   Your sorrow  Becomes mine.   I remain still Silent This is not my time To be heard.   It is yours, Precious Brave Soul.   I will be… Read More

I just finished Shûsaku Endô’s terribly beautiful book, Silence, about two missionaries who go into 17th century Japan to find their beloved mentor, who is reported to have apostatized under unbearable persecution. It was assumed, even by Endô’s publishers, that Silence was about the silence of God. Yet, for the rest of Endô’s life as he lectured about the book, he stated, “I did not write a book about the silence of God, I wrote a book about the voice of God speaking through suffering and silence.” I did not find God silent in Endô’s book. I found Him speaking generously, tenderly to Father Rodriguez, especially in his most excruciating moments. But perhaps the problem is in our definition of the silence of God. There… Read More

Into your hand I entrust my life; you will rescue me, O LORD, the faithful God. Psalm 31:5   So then let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator as they do good. 1 Peter 4:19, NET Entrust your life; entrust your soul. The Psalmist is in great distress and needs rescue. He chooses to entrust his threatened life to the Lord, the faithful God. Many things can prove “life-threatening.” It depends on where one’s “life” is centered. Job loss can feel life-threatening. The unexpected diagnosis is a threat. The lives of prodigal children seem profoundly threatened to the mother and father who faithfully trained them to know and love God. No matter who we are… Read More

The LORD was so furious with Uzzah, he killed him on the spot for his negligence. 2 Samuel 6:7 To read more of my reflections on 2 Samuel 6, click here. The word ḥârâ used for furious in this passage not only means to grow angry, but also to be grieved. This word has stuck with me in recent days.  What if our helping grieves the Lord? I recently stood with two dear African friends from two different nations as they recounted one way Western help has hurt. Historically, some helpers brought the Gospel to Africa wrapped in prosperity. In the process, suffering was omitted from the message of faith in the One who suffered to save humanity. Allured by illusions of quick solutions and… Read More

For Pastor S, who showed me the Fourth Man’s scars. …our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.  Daniel 3:17   Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.  Mark 14:36 I avoided the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego after the fire. I tried not to think about the skippy, trippy tune of an old praise song based on Isaiah 43:2 promising though we walk through fire… Read More

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7 Waiting patiently is hard, especially when we can’t see what’s happening. Farmers know something about this. My daily walk takes me through a valley of farms. Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, squash, strawberries, grapes, and potatoes all grow in their seasons. One garden will be lush and green, while mere yards away, a plot lies plowed and ready for new seed. Yet another garden just beyond stands at attention, its earthen rows tidy and straight, planted, yet no sign of growth. My neighbors know how to make the most of the earth God has given them in all seasons.  But there is one thing hidden from the farmer and from us. Something he or she… Read More

Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”  John 21:18 Sometimes we are carried where we do not want to go.  No one wants to lose a child. No one wants to be let go from a job just before retirement. No one wants to discover a spouse is addicted to pornography. No one wants to be forced out of home and… Read More

Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Song of Songs 4:16   But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 I stood looking out over the pitiful inlet, feeling deeply sorry for myself. My husband and small son were mercifully asleep, and it was the first quiet moment I’d had all day. The past twenty-four hours… Read More

Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!— Numbers 21:17 We have spent two weeks in the place of springs, the valley of weeping and affliction that bears that beautiful invitation to spring-making and spring-naming. Today, we shall sing, for there is another secret to springs in the valley: they become wells. In Numbers 21 we find the Israelites on the way to the Red Sea, going around the land of Edom. Scripture tells us, And the people became impatient in the way (v. 4). Impatience is the spring they chose to drink from that day, and it made them more thirsty. Instead of refreshing them, the Spring of Impatience widened their gaping need, filling their souls to the brim with crippling… Read More

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose hearts are the highways of Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs. Psalm 84:5-6 The desires of our heart, the ones originating in God’s heart, then planted in ours by His hesed love, often come at a cost. To make the Valley of Baca a place of springs is a noble desire. There is much talk of refreshing and rest these days, for the world is wounded and weary. As followers of Jesus, we know the Source of all rest. He is our personal Friend and the Lord of our lives. It would seem, therefore, that it would be easy to be a source of rest… Read More