Catalyst Track: Break Open the Sky // Day Two

This track comes from the book, Break Open the Sky; Saving Our Faith from a Culture Fear, by former World Relief President & CEO, Stephan Bauman.

Have you encountered someone who exhibited extraordinary grace during a season of intense or chronic suffering?

Encountering grace in the lives of those who suffer has changed me too — often profoundly. These experiences are wells from which I drink.

We, too, can be wells of life when we experience the crucible of suffering. Instead of resisting, blaming, or fighting—all of which are normal responses in everyday life—we can purposefully accept the experience of suffering, embracing the wisdom we can gain from it without justifying its cause or trying to neatly explain the reasons for it. When we accept suffering, trusting that we will emerge from its crucible with more grace, more humility, and more love, we live out a theology of suffering that is rare, especially in the West.

The idea that we can kiss the crucible, that we can make suffering an intimate friend, is a notion as old as our faith, but it is reserved for those willing to view suffering as an unlikely teacher, yet one dripping with wisdom.

But let’s be honest. When we suffer, poetry doesn’t help much. How do we learn to kiss the crucible?

In this 3-day track, Stephan confronts a question that all of us ask at some point  – what are we supposed to believe in the midst in the suffering?

As a leader of a congregation, or of employees in an organization, you are likely faced with suffering on a regular basis - not to mention your own. And knowing how to respond is a challenge. Over the next few days, take time to think about Stephan’s thoughts in the context of not only your own life, but the lives of those you lead.

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Day 2 – Learn, Don’t Blame

 

Second, don’t blame yourself. If your suffering is the result of your own actions, by all means take responsibility for it, but avoid self-blame and the shame that comes with it. Too often we fall prey to a false version of faith that correlates suffering with mistakes, poor choices, or personal sin. We do live in a world governed largely by the law of cause and effect, but Jesus refutes the notion that suffering is axiomatic proof of a badly lived life.

For example, in Jesus’s day, a tower fell and killed eighteen people. People apparently drew the conclusion that those eighteen were “worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem.” But Jesus emphatically repudiated that idea and the logic behind it. (Luke 13:4-5, ESV)

Third, make suffering your teacher. While we may not understand why we go through seasons of suffering, we can allow them to shape our lives. God is very near during times of suffering. Someone said, “The darker the night, the brighter the stars. The deeper the grief, the closer is God.”

Suffering may very well be your invitation to understand the love of God in ways you could not have fathomed before. Others need you to show them the way.

 

REFLECT:

Without necessarily trying to understand why you have experienced certain suffering, think about the ways God has revealed His love to you in new ways in the midst of suffering.