Worshipping God in the Midst of Suffering

I’m waiting, I’m waiting on You Lord
And I am hopeful, I’m waiting on You Lord
Though it is painful, but patiently I will wait
And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I’m waiting I will serve You
While I’m waiting I will worship
While I’m waiting I will not faint
I’ll be running the race even while I wait

I’m waiting, I’m waiting on You Lord
And I am peaceful, I’m waiting on You Lord
Though it’s not easy, no, but faithfully I will wait
Yes, I will wait
While I’m Waiting by John Waller

One of the most awesome verses in the Bible is Job’s affirmation of his loyalty and trust in God in Job 13:15, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him”. Another nugget is Job 2:21, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD”. This was unadulterated worship from the mouth of a man that had just lost his seven children and all his possessions in one fell swoop. Verse 22 capped it all: “In all this Job did not sin, and he did not accuse God of wrong doing”.

         The place of suffering in the Christian faith has been widely contested over time. It has also become a genre in Christian literature. For instance, an American author Philip Yancy has published many books with provocative titles such as What Good is God? Where is God When It Hurts? And Disappointment with God. Personally, I have often wondered why God allowed some people to go through painful stuff.

I remember the story of a woman featured on 700 Club which I found disturbing. The lady in question, aged thirty-five at the time, had joined forces with her mother to pray for a husband. God eventually answered their prayer and sent her the man of her dream. After the wedding, they were driving to the hotel booked for their honeymoon when they had an accident on the way. Her husband died on the spot while she was in coma for three months.

In his book, What Good is God?, Yancey relates the story of the Virginia Tech Campus Massacre of 2007 where thirty-three students were shot dead and twenty-three others inflicted with bullets wounds by an Asian student. He explained that the response of the Christian community to the tragedy reinforced the title of his earlier book on suffering, Where is God When It Hurts? Indeed, how can we assure a woman that has just lost her only child that God is good? How can we convince people that a good God allowed the tragedy at Virginia Tech?

         I had an opportunity to share my feelings on the matter with a Christian Sister after she informed me that she and others were praying for a believer struggling with cancer. When I asked her if she sought the Lord’s face on the issue, she was not too happy about that. She then explained to me that it is God’s will to heal everyone that is sick, thus implying that it is useless seeking His face to know what His mind is on the issue of sickness or suffering.

Some Christians insist that Jesus has banished sickness among his followers based on Isaiah 53: 4-5 “Surely he has borne our illnesses and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed”. Another anchor Scripture of this group of Christians is 3 John 1:2, “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, even as your soul is well”.

        Does God promise to heal everyone? Has He promised us a trouble-free life? Has He promised to prevent us from experiencing pains? If Christians are insulated from suffering, why did Paul the apostle write in 2 Corinthians 1:4, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.

When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us”? And have we forgotten that Jesus Christ said in John 16:33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world”? Peter also addressed this issue when he said in 1 Peter 3:7, “Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants than to suffer for doing wrong”.

I ask those who claim that it is not God’s will for any Christian to suffer or to have health issues. Does God save everyone since according to 2 Peter 3:9 “He does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance”? Another translation of that verse said that God desires that all should come to repentance. Have all humans come to repentance because God desires this for everyone?

He deliberately made salvation a gift so that every man can exercise his free will to accept His mercy and be saved. Is God able to heal everyone or stop people from experiencing hard times? Yes He can because He can do all things, but He has chosen to allow us exercise the liberty to make choices. Of course, every choice comes with consequences. If we expose our bodies to unhealthy lifestyles- immorality, drunkenness, substance abuse, gluttony, and the like, we are certain to reap the fruits in due course. Should God be blamed for our poor choices?

There are however, Christians who face troubles because of their faith in God. That was exactly what happened to Job. God Himself testified of Job’s impeccable character in Job 1:8 when He asked the adversary, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, who fears God, and avoids evil”?

Job was blameless in God’s eyes but he still suffered untold trauma in the hands of satan. I am sure that most of us in this generation would have hurled insults at him just like his three friends, Eliphaz, Zophar and Bildad did because they were sure that his sins had found him out! We are quick to pass judgment on others, even when we have little or no light on their situations.

So we ask. Is suffering from God? How should we respond to it? 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober and watchful, because your adversary the devil walks around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him firmly in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are experienced by your brethren throughout the world. But after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called us to His eternal glory through Jesus Christ, will restore, support, strengthen, and establish you”.

I used to ponder on Psalm 119:7, “My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees”. I don’t know anyone in my circle of friends that sees any redemption in suffering. That includes me! Suffering and pains are not natural. No sane person would willingly choose to go through them. But how does God see sufferings?

Romans 5:3-4 says, “Not only so, but we boast in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces patience, patience produces character, and character produces hope”. It is also important to note that Scripture views some sufferings from the perspective of discipline. Hebrews 12:6 tells us that God disciplines those He loves and punishes every son He receives or welcomes to His heart.

How do we know that our sufferings are from His hands for corrective purposes or from the enemy? Prayer is the key to unlocking the treasure troves of heaven. Consequently, we should refrain from jumping to conclusions when we are faced with situations that are outside our control. We should also desist from trying to diagnose other people’s problems using our human faculties alone. Who knows what God is trying to work out in their lives by exposing them to such trying moments?

So, how should we respond to sufferings? The song ‘I Will Worship While I’m Waiting’ by John Waller gives us a clue. God is not unmindful of our pains or the tears we shed while waiting for His salvation or intervention. Do you know that our tears are also prayers? Psalm 56:8 says that God puts our tears in His bottle as a memorial in heaven.

While we wait for Him to come through for us, let us also remember what Paul the apostle said in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison”. By all means, pray for speedy deliverance from your suffering. If the answer tarries, worship the great Jehovah while you wait.

Remember that God gives an assurance of His faithfulness to the seed of David, the Messiah in Psalm 89:30-34. The Scripture declares: If his children forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with lashes. Nevertheless My loving-kindness I will not remove from him nor be false in My faithfulness. My covenant I will not violate nor alter the word that has gone out from My lips”.

       We also have great comfort in the promise of God in Isaiah 54:11–14, “O afflicted one, tossed with tempest and not comforted, I will lay your stones with fair colours and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your windows of agates, and your gates of crystal, and all your borders of precious stones.

All your sons shall be taught of the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your sons. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you”.

When we put our trust in the LORD and wait patiently for His salvation, He gives us peace that is beyond understanding and joy unspeakable. We must stop attributing every misfortune or suffering to the devil. He is nothing but a tool in God’s hands. What the Father expects from us when we experience trials is to have faith in His goodness. And this is expressed in our worship. Let us worship while we wait for Him to show up!