The answer of the righteous man to the suffering that the world inflicts upon him is called blessing. That was the answer of God to the world that slew Christ on the cross-- blessing. God does not repay like with like, and neither should the righteous man do so. Not to condemn, not to curse, but to bless. There would be no hope for the world if this were not so. The world lives from the blessing of God and of the righteous and by this blessing it has a future.
Blessing means to lay the hand upon the shoulder and say, "Despite everything you belong to God.” That is how we deal with the world that inflicts so much suffering upon us. We don’t give it up, reject it, or despise it; we do not damn it; we call it to God; we give it hope; we lay our hand upon it and say, "May God’s blessings come upon you, he will renew you, blessings on you, you were created by God, to whom you belong, for he is your Creator and your Redeemer."
We have received God's blessing in joy and in sorrow. But we who have been ourselves blessed can do no other than pass on this blessing. Yes, the righteous man must be a blessing, there where he is. Only by the impossible can the world be renewed and God's blessing is the impossible.
-from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's meditation on Psalm 34:19-- "A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all."
When faced with the trials, suffering, and evil of this world, it is far too easy to stand back and condemn, or else to ignore and insulate ourselves from them. In fact, we live in a culture that elevates the avoidance of suffering as one of its highest goals or else makes it a god unto itself in art, music, film, and literature. Christian churches, I think, fall into the former category more often than the latter, and we assume that God's special blessing on us is meant only for us and our community-- the people who look like us, believe like us, and love us first. But Jesus point out that this is what the pagans do, and that is wholly a pagan way of thinking. In the Gospel we find abundance in Jesus that transforms us and gives us more that we may bless others.
I was really struck by Jesus' words in John 7 when I read them last night: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him." I don't think of myself as someone who could ever have rivers of living water flowing out of me-- but, as one of my good friends pointed out, our potential is really just limited by how much we are willing to yield to God. And this is how we can bless.
[cross-posted on facebook]
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1 comments:
You bring up a good issue. How should we respond to our own suffering? How should we respond to others experiencing suffering? Is there value in suffering?
First, suffering is everyone's lot. No one escapes it. No one skates through life without encountering it square on in all its ugliness.
And, suffering hurts and hurts bad. Physical sufferings, illness and pain, are obvious to all and hard enough. Emotional and mental sufferings--loss of a child or parent, divorce, psychosis, depression--are invisible to the naked eye, but no less severe in impact and scope.
To bless those in the middle of suffering is a gift from God, I am convinced. To reveal God's glory to those in the pit of despair is blessing on blessing. I pray that I will suffer to His glory when my time comes. Because He is great and worthy. I am nothing without Him and owe Him everything.
My ways are not His ways. My logic is not His logic. My mind is not His mind. I was not here when He laid the foundation of the earth.
I take refuge in Habakkuk 3: 17-18
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Thank you for your excellent post.
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