I am going to talk about suffering. If you’ll recall, last time I spoke, I talked about suffering, too; you may be wondering if I am sort of sadist. Maybe—or perhaps I am simply in league with the biblical tradition. Our Bibles are chocked full of stories about suffering, and it has been said that the majority of the Bible was written amidst suffering or describes events of suffering. Many Christians—even well-meaning Christians—seek to candy-coat suffering, paper over suffering, or pretend that suffering isn’t real—or, at least, not as real as it seems to be. But God, in His Word, demands that we look square in the eyes the reality of suffering, and acknowledge suffering as real. Last time I spoke I gave my personal testimony; this week I’m going to be exploring the question, “How are Christians to live amidst suffering?” I am speaking solely from experience, and what I’m talking about today are things that have helped me amidt my suffering.
Romans 12.9-13 is what is called a paraenesis, a series of ethical injunctions strung together with no solid framework. One of the theories presented by scholars is that the exhortations in these verses were classic Christian “phrases” or “clichés” that Paul reiterates to the church in Rome. Just as they were clichés then, so they are now. But here’s the thing about clichés: they’re usually true. These phrases become cliché because people acknowledge their validity and speak them often. You don’t have to agree with that assessment, but let’s find middle-ground and acknowledge biblical clichés as true (or we can become liberal heretics). It is within this paraenesis that Paul writes Romans 12.12:
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
The foundation of this phrase, I believe, is Tribulation, and in the midst of Tribulation, the Christian is to be prayerful, patient, and hopeful. But let’s first define what Tribulation means. Tribulation here does not mean the future Seven-Year Period of God’s Judgments that many Christians believe to be an eschatological reality. Tribulation, also, is not referring specifically to persecutions (it is tempting to super-spiritualize Tribulation into persecution, but the context here does not imply it). Tribulations are simply afflictions or adversities. They are tough times, and these tough times come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. They can be financial, emotional, physical. It is amidst these very real afflictions that Christians are to be prayerful, patient, and hopeful.
Amidst the afflictions that plague us, whatever they might be, we are to be Prayerful. “Why?” It is by prayer that we focus our attention and trust upon God rather than upon our affliction. It is by prayer that we pray for deliverance, and it is prayer that sustains us to be patient.
Just as we are to pray amidst affliction, we are to be patient in our waiting for deliverance. Patience is, ultimately, waiting; but it is not a passive waiting. It is an aggressive waiting. Patience is persevering when the road is long and dark and slow. There are two keys to patience: acceptance and faith. In patience we accept things as they are, and in patience we have faith that they will not always be as they are. To be patient is to hope, for the patient person waits for something, and that object for which he waits is the hope that, along with prayer, sustains their patience as they await deliverance.
Tertullian, an early Christian most known for coming up with the original “Trinity” doctrine, said that “Hope is patience with the lamp lit.” The patient person knows what he hopes for, and that hope gives light to why he should be patient. It has been said that man can live 40 days without food, three days without water, eight minutes without air, and just one second without hope. This is because hope is what keeps us alive amongst affliction. Hopelessness breeds suicide; hope breeds endurance—and for the Christian, it breeds joy, because of the certainty of hope. We have the assurance that our hope is real, as Hebrews 11.1 tells us. “What is it that we hope for?” As I said last time I spoke, the hope of the Christian is founded upon the “Glory of God”, a Jewish phrase which depicted a restored Eden where God’s chosen people would dwell in God’s eschatological victory. This concept of a restored Edenic paradise that is the future for the people of God was carried into Christian eschatology, and the early Christians placed their hope in a new heavens and a new earth (2 Pet 3.13 and Rev 21). It is hope in this future reality that gives us endurance and joy amidst our afflictions. It is the conviction—no, the promise—that things will not always be this way that enables us to endure our afflictions and even find joy amidst them.
Prayer. Patience. Hope.
These are to be the characteristics of the Christian who is afflicted.
I don’t know how many of us in this room are currently suffering. I don’t know what problems and afflictions are being experienced by those of us gathered here tonight. But this is what I do know: that if you are not suffering now, you will suffer, and perhaps even soon. In the thick of suffering, prayer and patience and hope seem ridiculous and absurd, but this is a great irony: because they are exactly what we need to put into practice. Suffering is a trademark of this fallen world, but those of us who belong to God can, unlike the heathen, be patient with purpose and find joy in the midst of our suffering.
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