Grace Church - "Love Suffers"

It is not a question of, “Will you suffer” but “When you suffer...” Suffering happens to all of us. Suffering comes to the best of us and the worst of us. It happens to the rich and powerful and to the poor and powerless. Not even God is exempt from suffering. Who can read about the fall of Lucifer in Isaiah chapter 14 and not hear in the pronouncement from God the mourning he has for the “morning star”? God says about Lucifer,

“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!”

These are not the words of glee or gloating over the fallen one, but these are the words of mourning over this fallen one and the depths to which he fell!

God loves all of his creation! And he is not immune to the suffering of his creatures. Suffering occurs when there is an investment in something or someone and that investment is lost, wasted, or resisted by the one in whom the investment is made. Hence the investment made in Lucifer of beauty and brilliance and leadership was lost in that he became proud and resisted the One who gave him these gifts! So the suffering that God expresses is that of the loss of one of his creatures in whom he had made an incredible investment! And God, who is love, suffered the consequences of this loss without exempting himself from the pain of it! For love does not exempt itself from the possibility of pain or the pain of others. Those who wish for a world without suffering are wishing for a world without love.

If God had created a world that was exempt from suffering he would have had to make a world that is free of love! That was impossible and would be out of his character! He could not remove love, but he can remove the effects of pain and suffering. And he does it through his Son, Jesus, who submitted to suffering for loves sake. Because he loved us he joined us in our pain and suffering in order to bring us to God and remove the effects of pain and suffering by rising from the dead.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

Revelation 21:3-5

Kenny Foster

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