Excerpt from Getting Past the Pain
by William Powell Tuck

God does not remove Christians from suffering but assures us of the divine presence even in the midst of our sufferings. Thank of what some have accomplished even under great hardship or suffering. Some of the finest individuals down through history have suffered. John Milton wrote some of his greatest poetic works after he became blind. Beethoven became deaf, but out of his deafness came marvelous music. Although he could not hear it, others rejoiced in its sound. Dostoevski, the Russian novelist, suffered from epilepsy. Louis Pasteur suffered a paralytic stroke at the age of forty-six, but some of his greatest discoveries came after his stoke. Alexander Pope was sickly and deformed in body, but he dominated English literature most of his life. The apostle Paul cried out to God, “O Lord, remove this thorn in my flesh.” But God replied, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

God does not promise us as Christians that we will be spared all suffering and pain. But God tells us that divine grace will sustain us. The word for grace is an image of one being ushered into the presence of royalty. We are introduced into the presence of God by the sustaining power of the Son. The word grace also contains an image of a ship finding refuge in a harbor. We have a safe harbor or haven from the stresses of life when we are in the grace of Christ. He sustains us. God has not removed all of our troubles, tribulations, suffering, and difficulties, but God is there in the midst of them to sustain us. And we know that, when we are sustained by God, we have a peace that cannot be overwhelmed. God works in all things for good.

The only satisfying answer to the dilemma of pain and suffering according to Douglas John Hall, “is the answer given to Job--the answer that is no answer but is the presence of an Answerer.” He continues with this insight about the presence of God in our suffering:

It does not matter that the Answerer brings more questions than answers;
for the answer is not the words as such but the living Word--the Presence
itself. The answer is the permission that is given in this Presence to be what
one is, to express the dereliction that belongs to one's age and place, to share
all of it with this Other: to trample! Faith is the communion of the spirit with
this fellow sufferer, this One whose otherness lies in the fact that he will not
turn away in the face of one’s failure, or in the failure of one’s world.

Have you ever heard how a real Persian rug is made? A frame is built to support the rug, and some small boys sit on one side of the rug. The expert designer or artist is on the other side and shouts his instructions to them. The young boys feed the colored thread through the rug as he guides them to the design he has in his mind. Sometimes the designer may walk off for a few minutes, and while he is away one of the young boys may carelessly push some of his thread in the wrong direction or may not follow the pattern exactly. A great artist will not ask the boy to pull out the color and start over, but he weaves the mistake into the overall pattern of the rug so that it blends in with the rest of the pattern. Here is a parable for us.

When suffering and pain come into your life and my life, God does not promise us that we will be spared. But we are assured that God will work in and through this difficulty to blend it into our lives and the lives of our family and community to bring beauty, wholeness, and good out of agony and wrong. We know that in God’s grace we can withstand all things, because God is present with us to uphold us and enable us to meet all circumstances. A valid concept of God and the universe will help us in our struggle with the problem of evil and suffering. Lean heavily on God’s grace to sustain you. God is present in all situations, and God will never let you down.

William Powell Tuck is the author of "Getting Past the Pain." To order, go to the online bookpage or call 1-800-747-3016.

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