In this excellent article by David Mathis from Desiringgod.org we are reminded that our suffering in this life is temporary.
Sorrows Are Normal for Now, What to Expect on Your Journey Home by David Mathis
As I thought about this conference of young professionals, and the opportunity to speak to you about “what to expect on your journey home,” my mind went back twelve years.
My wife and I were deeply embedded in a community of young adults at Bethlehem Baptist Church in downtown Minneapolis. On January 10, 2013, that community gathered for the funeral of a five-month-old. His name was Henryk. His father, Michael, and mother, Emily, were our dearest friends. They had found out at an ultrasound the previous April that something wasn’t right. Henryk survived his birth in July but clearly was weak. We didn’t know how long he’d live, whether just hours, days, weeks, or even months. He made it five months and died in January.
For my wife and me, and many of our closest friends, this was our first unshielded adult encounter with the pains of life in this fallen age. Tragically, some encounter those in childhood. Others are shielded as children, and many even as teens and college students, but sooner or later, the sorrows and suffering of the real world come crashing in.
I’ll read you a small section of the eulogy I gave for Henryk:
For many of us, especially us younger adults around Michael’s and Emily’s age, this was our first (or one of our first) awakenings to how messed up things really are in this world. This was one of our first up-close encounters with what it means that the creation is cursed and subjected to futility because of sin, and that the place we live is not yet the home we long for.
For many of us who love this family, the problem of pain has gone from being theoretical to being intensely personal. We’ve caught glimpses of God’s goodness in the midst of wave after wave of disappointment and sorrow, but we are learning the tough lesson that in this world, God’s goodness toward us rarely means ease, and often means great hardship. If this world and this life were all there is, we would be on the brink of despair. The tensions God is lovingly creating in our hearts in this fallen age are meant to be resolved in an age to come.
We’ve learned that saying “God is good” doesn’t mean that he makes our lives easy, but often that he makes them hard, but not joyless.
Some of you have already had a first up-close adult encounter with deep sorrow or suffering. If you haven’t, it’s coming. And if you have, more are coming. My task this morning is to point you to what to expect on this journey home, as we live in a world that is “not yet the home we long for.”
Prepare for Suffering
Probably no book in the New Testament better prepares us for suffering than 1 Peter. I’d like to take us to several passages in 1 Peter, but I want to draw from one especially at the beginning of the letter as we seek to sketch a theology of sorrow and suffering. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1:6–9:
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
This message has four parts, based on 1 Peter 1:6–9 and a few related passages we’ll draw in. Here’s the summary:
Sorrows and sufferings on this journey home are expected, designed, limited, and rewarded.
1. Suffering Is Expected
You will have sorrows and suffering. You’ve had them, or have them now, or they’re coming. Peter writes to Christians who “have been grieved by various trials.” And this is not a fluke or aberration of normal Christianity; this is normal Christianity in this world, on this journey. We are grieved by various trials. We are sorrowful, and we suffer. So, Peter says, we should expect sorrows and suffering. First Peter 4:12–13 says,
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Because sorrows and suffering will come, Peter wants us to prepare our hearts and be sober-minded (1 Peter 1:13). Don’t assume suffering and debilitating sorrows won’t come to you. Assume they will. Expect them.
So, he says in 1 Peter 4:1: “Since . . . Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.” Arm yourselves! Christ suffered; why won’t I? We expect it on this journey home; we are not naive, not surprised. Expect opposition to a life of faith. Think it not strange to have sorrows and suffering here, but think it strange when we don’t.
Brothers and sisters, infants and children will die. Friends and family in the prime of life will be cut down. You may get cancer or a terminal disease. You will experience broken relationships, whether breakups or divorce, or estranged family and dear friends. There will be insults, opposition, and ostracism for your faith. It’s coming. Sorrows are coming. Suffering is coming. Will you be surprised?..." from the article: Sorrows Are Normal for Now, What to Expect on Your Journey Home by David Mathis
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