Sorrow and Suffering - Part III

Last we left Much-Afraid, yes walking with Sorrow and Suffering, yet at a distance and still very afraid of them. As she journeys to the High Places with her two faithful (dreaded) companions, she goes through a lot of situations. At some point she can’t hold the hand of her companions, but they hold hers. There comes a point where Much-Afraid, willingly takes Sorrow and Suffering by the hand. There is a full surrender to her circumstances and she is able to accept them in her life.

In the book “The Cup and the Glory” by Greg Harris we read, “…When difficulty progresses to suffering and suffering to sorrow, we question why God would lead us away from the light into darkness. Then when the darkness increases, as conditions worsen and drag on, we have many questions we would like God to answer. However, it is during these deepest valleys that God so often appears to be the farthest removed from us.”

Have you ever felt this way? You know that you have accepted, to some degree, your lot in life, if you will, yet it gets darker and darker. Questions flood your mind and you wonder…There are those times that you question…oh, so many questions. I remember I teaching I heard about prodigals. This gracious women was exhorting us to not soften “the road” of that prodigal. To let God have His way, but for us to continue following and trusting the Lord. Yet, in tears she said, “I wish I could stand here and speak to you from a ‘success story’ of my prodigals having come home. But I stand here standing on the tried, true and proven promises of All Mighty God”. This is where the rubber meets the road. Do I trust God only when His promises to me have become reality, when I SEE results? Or do I trust in spite of my feelings, my emotions, what I DON’T SEE?

Yes, the Cup…oh, the Road…

Harris says, “During three sequences of prayer Jesus pleaded with God to have His cup removed from Him. He pleaded with a depth of agony greater than the combined agony of all prayers offered before or after the cross But three ties He also prayed, “yet not as I will, but as Thou will” (Matt. 26:39). That last phrase cost Him dearly – and it will you too, if you really mean it, and not merely repetitiously incorporate it into what we cal prayer.

By the way, what do you pray for…when you pray?

Put your heart on the table. The Cup is our responsibility to take up and drink. Jesus offers it, but not everyone takes it. Are you able to drink the Cup He drank?

Please pass me the Cup, Lord. It’s as necessary for me as it was for You. Give me strength and courage because what I ask is a fearful thing to me. Change me into a vessel fit for receiving not only what You would have for me, but also whom You would have me become. I have no strength to do this but by You. Strip me of me, and replace it with You. Have your own way with me. Thy will be done on earth – my earth, my life – as it is in heaven. Amen.

If you pray that prayer, you begin a new and different level of walking with Jesus, consisting both of astounding heights and astonishing depths. Walking with Jesus is a road to be traveled one step at a time, not an instantaneous process – and the road beckons us to come.