These last few weeks I have truly been struggling to keep the faith.
We recently lost an important member of our family, and it hit me really hard. It’s the fifth time in the last four years that we had to endure such a loss, and sometimes it feels like the bad is so much more than the good.
It’s hard not to get bitter or become angry when you constantly have to go through these moments in life, and it’s really hard not to wonder why God let these things happen. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there so much suffering and pain in the world?
Yes, I know suffering and pain entered the world through sin, free will and poor choices. And yes, I know God sometimes uses pain and suffering to strengthen and change us or to help us grow. There are so many different answers and theories that it gets mind-boggling sometimes. I don’t think that we would ever completely understand why these things happen. Maybe that’s where the faith part comes in—to believe that God knows what He is doing and that He is always in control.
Corinthians 13:12 says: “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
It’s not always easy to trust God when it feels like you have no control and your world is falling apart. He did, however, warn us in John 16:33 that there will be suffering in this world, but He also promised in Romans 8:28 that in all things He works for the good of those who love Him.
Martin Luther King said that faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase. Maybe that is the answer—to stop asking why and just let it be.
An unknown philosopher once said that all suffering is at least potential good and has the opportunity for good. Sometimes the best weapon against bad things is to fight it with good. Maybe the way to heal is to try and combat the pain in the world with goodness—to be kind to those in pain and help those who are suffering.
Our suffering might not make sense right now, but someday it will. Someday there will be no more crying, no more tears, no more pain and no more suffering—we will truly see and truly understand. For now, all we really can do, is to hold on to our faith and God’s promise in Corinthians 2:9 that says: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
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