When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him ,he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.
-Chinua Achebe
He wasn’t invited…this interloper. But some guests don’t require invitations and, like this one, quickly navigate about the room infecting everyone with their undesirable influence. This guest…like so many memories of adult survivors of child abuse…pushes its way into the beautiful, harmonious places that were meant to be sanctified…pure…redeemed.
And suddenly, the once-cherished visions of giving something better to the ones you love seems unclear–like an aged mirror that once reflected all that was beautiful, but now only offers a blurred image of what might truly exist.
And in the suffering, you wonder...is it true? Has God abandoned me to suffer alone? How can a Father…the Heavenly Father…allow calamity of the mind? Does He care about the spirit wounds doubling His child over in pain?
Searching for a thread of hope…a reminder of His promise…a thought of what is beautiful I read words penned by Bible teacher, Paul Tripp…
Suffering will tempt you to doubt God’s goodness and kindness. Suffering will tempt you to doubt His faithfulness and love. Even though you may never speak this aloud, your theology will bring God into the court of your judgment and accuse Him of being unloving and unfaithful to His promises. In moments of suffering, don’t run away from God in doubt. If you do, you risk missing out on the wonderful blessings of grace that He has made available. Even if those blessings are uncomfortable or even excruciatingly painful, you can run to the Father.
So…let’s run, dear friends–in our doubt, our pain, our suffering–to the One who enters by invitation only.
The Message (MSG)
Rev. 3: 20-21 “Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors!