‘Tis the Season...for Suffering?

Thanksgiving is over. The relatives have all gone home.  The turkey and dressing is but a memory but the holidays are far from over.  There is much to do in anticipation of Christmas, so 'tis the season...for suffering?

What do Christmas and suffering have to do with each other?  Isn’t Christmas to be a time of joy and celebration, gifts and family?  One might possibly entertain the idea of “suffering” in relation to the holidays if you count fighting the crowds at the after Thanksgiving Day sales or attending the endless holiday activities that plague one’s calendar.  But other than that, why would Christmas be considered the Season for Suffering?

James Montgomery Boice, former Pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Philadelphia and now a saint worshipping God face to face in glory, once made the following comment on suffering:

When Life is smooth it is easy to say, as we often do, “all things work together for good to them that love God.”  It is easy when you have everything you want, when God blesses you and your family.  But it is not so easy at the grave.  It is not so easy in the face of bitter disappointment and pain.  If you are to have confidence in God in such moments, you must learn to trust Him in the small disappointments of life. (Commentary on Philippians by James Boice, p. 66).

What is ironic about this statement is that James Boice made it in connection with Philippians 1:19-20 where Paul says,

¹⁹ for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,  ²⁰ according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. – Phil 1:19, 20 (NASB)

Boice points out that, “Paul recognized that Christ would be magnified in him whether he lived or died.  This means Paul was so confident that God’s will for him was perfect—that it was the best possible thing for him—that he was able to accept it willingly even if it meant death at the hands of a Roman executioner” (Philippians, p. 66).  Paul trusted God in the disappointments of life; both small & large!

Not only did Paul face suffering confidently because of his trust in God, but just one chapter later in Philippians we read,

⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,  ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Phil 2:5-8 (NASB)

 Jesus emptied Himself, being made in the likeness of men; being born as a baby in the cattle pen and lying in a manger.  Jesus grew to manhood; obeying God in everything even to the point of death; death on a cross.

The incarnation of Christ that we celebrate at Christmas reminds us that we have a God who has suffered on our behalf! And the reality that Christ suffered as we suffer gives us great comfort.  Paul could stand firm even in the face of death because he knew that he could trust His God.  God is not a God who calls us to do something that He is unwilling to do.  God is a God of comfort; especially in difficult times (Psa. 23:4; 119:50; Isa 12:1; 2 Cor 1:3-7; 2 Thess 2:16 & 17).

What is the suffering of Christmas that I mentioned earlier?  It is the loneliness of a widow that misses the warm embrace of her husband as well as the lengthy conversations that she used to have with him; even if he has been gone for 20 years and people think that she “should be over it by now.”   It is the heartache that wells within the soul of a family that is being torn apart by infidelity, constant bickering or the ripping apart of divorce.  It is the bondage that comes as a result of financial irresponsibility or maybe even the loss of a job and the weight of more and more bills that will soon be due.  It is the sense of hopelessness that occurs watching one’s adult child turn against God and indulge themself in a life of sin.  It is the loss that is felt in the recent death of a loved one, or the anniversary of a death around the holidays.  ‘Tis the season for suffering!

As Boice reminds us, Christians cannot erase the suffering or wish it away by telling people that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” (Rom. 8:28).  No!  We must resist the temptation to “fix” people and give them glib answers to difficult questions. Trusting God comes as one trusts in God in the small disappointments of life.  Then, as greater suffering occurs, one will be more likely to stand fast in Him! 

So what are we to do when we encounter those suffering souls this holiday season?  We must remind them of the truths of Scripture.  We must share with or remind them that there is a God who understands their suffering; a God who, Himself suffered on their behalf that they might be set free to trust Him even in the midst of the suffering that they currently encounter.  That He is the God of all comfort.  That He did not carry out His plan of salvation from afar, but He came to earth, suffered the injustices of a fallen people and fallen world, and rose victorious that we might be set free from sin and death and instead have new life!

This Christmas season, let us all remember that for many around us, ‘Tis the Season for Suffering.  But also let us remember that Jesus came to earth, suffered on our behalf to set us free from the power of sin that we might trust Him; even in the midst of suffering!

Let me close with the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7,

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.  ⁶ But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;  ⁷ and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. – 2 Cor. 1:3-7 (NASB)

May God use us this holiday season as instruments in His hands to bring the hope of the gospel to those with whom we come in contact.