When Suffering, Trust God

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him
Job 13:15

When we cannot trace God's hand," wrote Charles Haddon Spurgeon, "we can always trust God's heart." We all have times that confront us when we can see neither rhyme nor reason in what is happening. Why God allows the circumstances is not always clear.

When we have unanswered questions, we can curse God and blame Him--or turn to Him and let the trial drive us closer to him. G. Campbell Morgan once said that any suffering would be bearable if we could only understand the reason for it. Yet faith is trusting Him--without doubt or bitterness--even when we cannot understand.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones." (Proverbs 3:5-8)

taken from " Just for Today" by Harold J. Sala

Sufferings

there is too much suffering in this world. suffering that brought chaos and confusion. suffering from diseases, suffering from financial difficulties, suffering from wrong decisions, suffering from climate changes- name it you got it. "suffering," said Buddha, "extends as far as the eye can see."

with all these sufferings around us many are bound to retreat to end all of these. but what are the causes of these sufferings? aren't we responsible of all these sufferings? we tend to blame God to be the cause of all these things or even blame others. to quote," it is human nature - the worst PART of human nature--to deny or downplay our own responsibility for effects we cause, and project the blame outside ourselves. But no matter how thoroughly JUSTIFIED blame may seem, it only CREATES more problems. And worse, blame can make existing problems practically permanent!"

we have to take responsibility of all that we do. for instance, suffering from financial difficulties which is very common to us. why can't we live with what we earn? easy to say, but hard to do. why? because there is so much pressure in these system of things where material things are being mostly desired by everyone. and we let ourselves succumbed to that system. we are overpowered by the materialistic part of ourselves. so how can we blame others for this suffering? what shall we do now?

what is important to be able to bear all these sufferings and to take responsibility with all of these is to be able to understand and accept the challenges of life. take time for prayer, meditation, and reflection. we should treat life's challenges as a form of exercise to build our spiritiual muscles.

as a conclusion, i would like to share what i have read in faithcrisis.com:

"Clearly, many CAUSES in our lives are outside our control. Here are a few of them: large scale circumstances like international politics; the free will choice of other people; random forces of nature. But no matter what happens in the world around us, each of remains the PRIMARY "cause" or influence in our own lives.

What WE do, what WE think, and especially, how WE feel most profoundly affects everything in our lives. What we MAKE of the events of our lives is more important, subjectively, than the events themselves. And our creative power is not limited to after-the-fact interpretation. Through the choices we make, we are principal creators of even the actual events our our lives as well.

Consequently, we are NEVER completely "at the effect" of circumstances --not even if we choose to feel that way. No matter what is happening in the world around us, we can ALWAYS make a positive difference in our lives. So the relevant questions is not, "Why is life victimizing me, but rather, "Why should I victimize MYSELF?