CrossPoint Community News – August 20, 2021

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

             What do we need most when we suffer?

             The answer to this question will be different, depending on who you ask. For example, if you talk with some people, they will tell you that what you need is something to ease your suffering – perhaps a drug, prescribed or purchased. Other people will tell you that you need to escape your suffering by changing locations or ending a relationship. Still others will tell you that you need to put an end to your suffering by getting rid of the object that is causing you to suffer. Whether this advice is good or bad depends a lot on who is giving the advice and why. Remember, not all suffering is evil. Perhaps you would say community, or comfort, or quality care. Those things are certainly helpful but they are not our greatest need in suffering.

            The answer to the question, what do we need when we suffer, is answered differently by the different characters in the book of Job. For example, Job’s wife suggested that Job needed to just curse God and die. Her suffering had been overwhelming and she had had enough. Job’s friends – Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar – thought Job just needed their company. In the first seven days of their visit, they just sat with Job, saying nothing. But then, when Job expressed his feelings, they couldn’t hold their tongues. They all told Job that he needed to confess the sins he had done which had caused his suffering. They said this even though Job was a blameless and upright man who feared the Lord and turned away from evil.  Job, in the midst of his suffering, said that he needed to be vindicated – that he needed to have an audience with God and argue his case. Elihu, towards the end of the book, tried to correct both Job and the other three men, by saying that Job, and other sufferers, need to learn from their suffering from God, the Greatest Teacher. If you look back at the beginning of the book, Satan assumed that Job’s obedience was fickle, so he instigated the suffering, thinking that all he had to do was make Job suffer and Job would curse God. And if you look at the end of the book of Job, God shows up in a whirlwind, telling Job that he needs to answer some questions if Job hopes to have his own questions answered.

            What about you? When you have suffered, or if you are suffering presently, what is it that you need when you suffer? How would you answer that question?