Suffering
I came across this from Pastor Paul Tripp's blog about his daughter's terrible accident. She was crushed against the wall of a pub on the streets of Philly by an SUV (see link below). He was the speaker at this year's Heart & Mind Conference at Jubilee Presbyterian Church. Some of you may be more familiar with his brother's work, Ted Tripp who wrote "Shepherding a Child's Heart". As I read this, I was thinking about what I was going through when my parents refused to see us for the past 17 months and the problems we had with our next door neighbor. What I went through is nothing in comparison to what his family will be going through in the next few years. I'm reminded that in the midst of suffering and pain, Christ is the One who is with us. He has suffered more than anything we will ever go through. Because of that, He understands us and will never turn his back on us.
"Suffering transports you beyond the boundaries of your reason and your control. It forces you to respond to what you do not understand and to react to what you did not plan. It frustrates our love for comfort and ease. It denies us the order and predictability that we tend to expect. Suffering doesn't submit to our desires and it does not cooperate with our plans. Suffering is a kidnapper that comes into our lives, blindfolds us, and takes us to where we do not want to be.
But suffering is not just a kidnapper, it is also a teacher. Suffering teaches you that life in this broken world is frought with danger. It warns you that physical things are weak and impermanent. It points you to the fact that there is little that you actually control. It instructs you as to where reliable comfort and sturdy hope can be found. Like a patient teacher with a resisitant student, suffering pries open your hands and asks you to let go of your life. Suffering invites you to find security, rest, hope, and comfort in Another, and in so doing, assaults the irrrationality of personal sovereignty that is the delusion of every human being. In that way, suffering is not just a kidnapper, and not just a teacher, it is also a liberator. Suffering frees us to experience a deeper comfort and hope than we have ever had before. The problem is that we don't always want to be free. Even in difficulty, we fight to retain what suffering shows we didn't have in the first place.
Pray that we will not fight, that we will be good students, and that we will celebrate our freedom even in the midst of exhaustion and pain."
Excerpt from http://www.nicolenews.blogspot.com by Paul D. Tripp; June 11, 2006.
"Suffering transports you beyond the boundaries of your reason and your control. It forces you to respond to what you do not understand and to react to what you did not plan. It frustrates our love for comfort and ease. It denies us the order and predictability that we tend to expect. Suffering doesn't submit to our desires and it does not cooperate with our plans. Suffering is a kidnapper that comes into our lives, blindfolds us, and takes us to where we do not want to be.
But suffering is not just a kidnapper, it is also a teacher. Suffering teaches you that life in this broken world is frought with danger. It warns you that physical things are weak and impermanent. It points you to the fact that there is little that you actually control. It instructs you as to where reliable comfort and sturdy hope can be found. Like a patient teacher with a resisitant student, suffering pries open your hands and asks you to let go of your life. Suffering invites you to find security, rest, hope, and comfort in Another, and in so doing, assaults the irrrationality of personal sovereignty that is the delusion of every human being. In that way, suffering is not just a kidnapper, and not just a teacher, it is also a liberator. Suffering frees us to experience a deeper comfort and hope than we have ever had before. The problem is that we don't always want to be free. Even in difficulty, we fight to retain what suffering shows we didn't have in the first place.
Pray that we will not fight, that we will be good students, and that we will celebrate our freedom even in the midst of exhaustion and pain."
Excerpt from http://www.nicolenews.blogspot.com by Paul D. Tripp; June 11, 2006.
posted by Beannie's Log | 1:25 PM
2 Comments:
hmmm... very true...
it's not at all pretty though, suffering. it hurts like crazy too sometimes, but i do believe that He does make you a little more pure than before you entered that fire. i think... i hope... :)
i'll have to check out the link.
WOW! Just read Paul Tripps blog and it brought tears to my eyes. I remember hearing about this a few months ago, and never knew it was Tripps daughter. He was a prof of mine at CCEF and would talk about his family here and there. Thanks for posting this Ihna, I would have never known to pray for Nicole and the Tripps.
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