This morning I got the news that someone, who I've been praying for, had died of brain cancer, leaving behind grieving family and friends.
A friend wrote: "It's always the lovely ones!"
It is an age old problem, that of undeserved suffering. In fact, it becomes a stumbling block for many, stoking the fires of atheism.
Particularly at this time, when we see cruelty unleashed on vulnerable people in Afghanistan;
others, in Haiti, losing everything in yet another earthquake; fires ravaging around the world destroying communities and vast tracts of forest.
Suffering is emblazoned across the news headlines.
What about God's role in this? Many ask why doesn't He intervene?
There is no definitive answer.
Many have tried to explain and understand, but have fallen at the first hurdle.
At present we have to walk by faith, through the minefield of world events.
"We walk by faith and not by sight"!
2 Corinthians 5:7
This means realising that we will never have every answer - laying down demands to know in exchange for loving trust, believing that our Hope is not in vain.
Jesus warned that in the end times the love of many will grow cold:
Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold.
Matthew 24:12
When the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?
Luke 18:8
We have to be on our guard that the tragic events of this time do not deprive our faith in Jesus of its strength. God still reigns and still answers prayer - perhaps not always in ways we understand, but He answers nevertheless.
1 Corinthians 13:12-13
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. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
The problem of suffering will always exist until the new Heavens and earth are revealed and Jesus wipes away all tears. Until then we must wrestle with the tragic events as they hit our lives and the lives of others.
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