By Brian Cook
The band Switchfoot has a song about suffering and how we respond to it called “Dare You to Move.” The song begins with a reminder that “everyone’s here,” and the lyrics include the line, “Welcome to the fallout, welcome to resistance, the tension is here – between who you are and who you could be, between how it is and how it should be.”
All those reading this column most likely have lived long enough to experience suffering. Indeed, suffering is so common that it is understood as a part of life. However, something about that acceptance feels wrong, unjust and foreign. Only an individual truly knows his or her pain, and I’m referring to the things that have the power to crush your heart, alter your mind attack your very soul and sap your strength.
Those who live contrary to Jesus Christ are capable of the most horrendous things, and we who long to live well for Christ still face the hardships of being “in the world but not of it.” Can our faith make sense of suffering?
Most of us have lived long enough to have seriously sinned or been sinned against, and because of sin, we all suffer in general. But as we see in 1 Peter 3:17, there is a suffering for good, and we have a Savior Who suffered for our good. As it turns out, our salvation begins with the suffering of Christ. It continues in suffering with Christ, it is purified in suffering for Christ and it ends in uniting our suffering to Christ. To wit, Paul teaches we are saved (Titus 3:5), we are being saved (2 Corinthians 2:15) and we will be saved (Romans 5:10).
In the midst of our suffering, we often cry out to God, “just make it make sense!” When that happens, in comes the Cross of Jesus Christ. John 16:33 says, “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” Our Comforter has come. The Apostle Paul takes up this theme in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4: “Blessed be…. the God of all Comfort. Who comforts us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God?”
Suffering is not removed from this life; that occurs in Heaven. In this life, our suffering remains. But for the Christian, that suffering is infused with grace.
Look again closely at 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 and note the phrase “that we may be able to comfort.” It is here where our suffering is united with the great declaration of Joseph in Genesis 50:20 where he says, “What you meant for evil, God has meant for good, to save many people.” At this point, beloved, please pause, be still and know that in Christ your most painful suffering can now function as your ministry.
Have you ever noticed that former addicts and families broken by addiction, former abused and abusers, formerly abandoned and those who abandon and those crushed by the grief of loss are “able to” profoundly minister to others through Christ? It’s like our Savior takes our very worst and transforms that experience into profound testimony that cannot be denied, by even the hardest of hearts. Because of the Cross of Jesus Christ, the very thing that was sent for our destruction, is now transformed into a platform from which the gospel can be effectively proclaimed.
Other lyrics to the song “Dare You to Move” include “Maybe Redemption has stories to tell, maybe forgiveness is right where you fell, salvation is here.” The beggar is heard when he tells another beggar where he found food, and when united with His suffering, our suffering brings us into that saving ministry. Colossians 1:24 says, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of the church.” Our suffering makes sense within His suffering.
In view of the cross and these verses in Corinthians and Colossians, the “Why me?” questions can stop feeling so desperately urgent. Rather, we can find peace that our suffering can make a difference for good. This truth, beloved, moves us from wounds to worship and from pain to praise, grateful to God that our questions have one answer – He Who transforms our suffering into redemption!
Brian Cook is a Cropwell native and a graduate of Pell City High School and Gadsden State Community College and studied music and history at Jacksonville State. He and his wife Hope have five children. A self-described “on-again-off-again bi-vocational part-time” Protestant minister for almost 20 years, Brian converted to Catholicism in April 2021. They attend Saint James Catholic Church in Gadsden. With no formal training (Acts 4:13), Brian is active in the Catechetical training of children and adults. His book “The Devotion to Christ” can be found on Amazon. He is available for speaking and teaching engagements in any parish, church, or group setting. He may be contacted at thedtc@protonmail.com or thedevotiontochrist@gmail.com.