Being A Christian Doesn't Exempt You From Suffering
We serve a God of both miracles and suffering.
A recent article by Fox discusses a personal story of both pain and elation: Canaan, the writer's nephew, was dying after a misdiagnosis. While the family of this precious seven-month-year-old boy were waiting outside the emergency room as doctors and nurses attempted to save him from septic shock, his mother began to pray aloud.
Her prayer isn't what you might expect. Instead of immediately begging for healing, she knelt and said, "God, I'm going to worship You right now. No matter what happens, You're still holy. You're still good."
Canaan would be on life support for days after that prayer, doctors almost routinely giving negative reports until the goal was no longer healing, but comfort. The situation seemed hopeless until an email began being forwarded across the world. A massive prayer movement began, and in the days that followed, shocked doctors were able to report that Canaan's body was miraculously healing.
Rejoicing soon followed, but even miracles can be complicated. Canaan would need many surgeries while surviving more infections and digestive issues. The author and uncle to this little miracle encourage us to know that although miracles display God's goodness and everyday life is often less-than miraculous, God's grace can give us the strength to bow down in the darkness and declare His goodness regardless of the outcome.
This story illustrates a powerful truth: even Christians suffer. Some people believe that once you give your life to Christ, everything is going to be okay. The God of the universe has a plan for your life and Jeremiah 29:11 promises that the plan is full of hope. Although it's true that God has a plan for us and that plan is good, it might not always feel good.
The author watched his nephew narrowly escape death at only seven months old, and that did not feel good. But good things came out of that suffering: Christians across the world became united in prayer, the family got to experience a new level of the body of Christ, and God was praised even more when the miraculous healing took place.
Even Jesus, who was God, experienced pain in order to bring about God's good plan. Without His agonizing death on the cross, salvation would be impossible.
Canaan and Jesus both got to experience miracles. Canaan lived through a horrible situation and Jesus was raised from the dead. True stories like these give us hope that our suffering will be temporary and that because we have faith, our miracle will come on this earth.
I've prayed many prayers for many friends, quoting Psalm 27:13 that, "I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." God has answered those prayers many times, healing my friends on this earth as they recover from everything from cancer removal surgeries to bus accidents. But the campus pastor at my university always reminds us that sometimes God decides to heal in Heaven, not here. A beloved former student passed away a few months ago and although there was grief because he was young, there was rejoicing that his life had been a testament to the Gospel and he was now with his Savior.
So if you're in the midst of a battle and you are clinging to your faith in hopes for a miracle, be encouraged that God hears you. He loves you. He does have a good plan for your life. However, that plan may not look like you want it to look or feel good at the time. Being a Christian does not guarantee that your life will be free from suffering. Being a Christian means that we serve a God who catches our tears, gives us comfort, and will one day lift the veil from our eyes so that everything can be seen clearly, even our suffering.
