Some years ago when my wife and I went on a short-term mission to the Diocese of Ecuador to train clergy and lay leaders in basic theology and healing ministry, we had the pleasure of getting to know Bishop Adrian Caceres. One of the very important things that Bishop Caceres said to those going to minister in Ecuador was, “I don’t want to hear any naïve Triumphalism!” What he was referring to was a tendency of affluent Americans to proclaim an attitude of unrealistic and naïve victory over suffering in our proclamation of the Gospel to the poor. The simple reality was that many of the poor in Ecuador were going to remain poor and continue to suffer long after we short-term missionaries had come and gone.

The Gospel is not a pink pill bringing instant relief from poverty and suffering, even though from a long-term perspective, the Gospel can make an impact on the very political and social systems that minister poverty and death. A question immediately arises; “How will we pray and work to change the world around us?”

One of the weaknesses of contemporary Charismatic thought is that while we have no theology of suffering, we do suffer from time to time. I rejoice to share in the wonderful answers to prayer and the many healings that we have seen over the years, but the simple fact is that not all of our prayers are answered. Nevertheless, so very often, our loving God reaches down in response to our prayers and to our delight and everlasting joy we see the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, the dead raised, and the demonized cleansed. Sometimes the power of the Spirit is so evident that we miss the other side of Christian experience. We have to bear in mind that even Lazarus, who was raised from the dead, had to die again.

Paul makes it clear that we, and all creation, are subjected to frailty and death. His way of putting it is: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” [Romans 8:20-21 ESV]. Paul tells us that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” [Romans 8:18 ESV]. There is a greater glory coming that is validated for us in the suffering and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those are not just words. Many of us Christians of mature years have lived long enough to bet our lives and future hope on the promises of God.

In the meantime, those who surrender to God in the midst of their suffering discover a great truth that will carry them through many a stormy sea. Suffering is by no means always a result of sin on our part, nor is suffering an evidence of an inadequate faith. Rather than that we have the great privilege of uniting our sufferings to the suffering of Christ and living by faith in the midst of the storms of the sea. Again Paul speaks directly to our situation: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” [Romans 8:15-17 ESV]. In the light of this truth, we pray, “I’m yours Lord, everything I am, and everything I’ve got.”

Last Sunday before the 10:40 a.m. service, I was watching a little tyke standing in the middle of the nursery just wailing. As I spoke to her she looked at me and our eyes met. The tone of her crying altered slightly, but it was evident that I was not what she wanted. She is still learning that she is loved, but not always on her schedule. We are like that child, loved, but bereft because we do not fully see all that God has for us. We find ourselves living by faith in the face of rough waters that we very often do not understand. As our faith matures we will eventually come to that holy place that balances surrender with the revealed power of God that so often delights us. But, like Paul, we are not already perfect, but “we press on towards the mark of our upward call of God in Christ Jesus” [Phil. 3:14].

- Father Rob +

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