But Rejoice?

1 Peter 4:12-13

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning this fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." (Italics mine)

I've been thinking about the problem of pain lately. Maybe it would be more correct to say the confusion of pain, rather than the problem of it. It seems that every few weeks or so, I am made aware of something that is simply devastating.

Inevitably, when these stories of suffering are related, there is some confusion involved. "Why is this happening?" "What have I done to deserve this?" "Why didn't God answer my fervent prayers in this matter?" "What could I have done to keep this from happening?"

Honestly, I think that this great confusion over pain is a relatively modern phenomenon. We happen to live in a day and age where we are often insulated from the brutal realities of life. I'm thinking mostly of modern Americans, but anyone who lives in a developed part of the world probably qualifies here. We have enough to eat, we live in safe and comfortable structures, we have access to medicine which treats a wide variety of common ailments. Most of our babies survive to adulthood. Most of us expect to reach a ripe old age, after living a healthy and fruitful life.

But even with all of the comforts of our modern society, there are disasters and problems that no technology can prevent. Children are killed in accidents, or born with physical and mental problems. Some children are never born at all. Young people die suddenly or are swept away by incurable diseases before their time. Parents die. Husbands die. People are paralyzed or disfigured. It happens every day to people all around us.

But somehow we have managed to make those things rare enough that they still shock and confuse us. I suspect that in many generations past, difficulty of life was the norm. It didn't confuse people like it does today.

And to compound our confusion, there seems to be a great deal of misinformation in the Christian community about how to deal with suffering and tragedy. I don't know where the idea originated, or when it first began to take root, but we seem to have convinced ourselves that Christians are supposed to be happy and joyful all the time, no matter what is happening to them.

Huh?

If that is true, then why is the Bible full of great men and women of God who poured out pain and anguish and despair and even anger in the pages of Scripture? Has anyone read Psalms lately? David had some very unhappy things to say to God. Off the top of my head I can think of complaints/pain/despair/anger being poured out by: Moses, Elijah, David, Hezekiah, Jeremiah, Hannah and Ezekiel. They weren't walking around with some strange idea that if you knew God your whole life should be a rosy picture show. They lived in reality. And so do we.

I did a little experiment, because I was curious. I tried to look up every time the word "rejoice" occurred in the New Testament. (You should not consider this an exhaustive commentary on rejoicing, this is just a casual observation.) Because I thought, surely there must be some really strong verses that give us reason to think we are supposed to be happy all the time.

In the New King James Version of the New Testament, the word "rejoice" occurs in 42 verses. And in almost every one of them, this rejoicing has to do with rejoicing because of who we are in Christ or what awaits us in the end. The verse at the top of this post is a great example. Peter specifically says, don't be surprised when terrible things happen to you, yes, rejoice that you are able to share in the suffering of Christ, and when His glory is fully revealed, then you will be filled with exceeding joy.

He doesn't tell them to walk around with a serene smile and pretend like nothing bad is happening to them. That would just be weird. Instead, they should remember that there is joy to come, and rejoice in what is to come. No matter what happens in this life, fiery trials and all, then end is decided. And the end is full of exceeding joy. Take comfort in that, rejoice in that!

Please don't divorce yourself from the ability to "weep with those who weep." And never, never accuse someone of not being a "good Christian" because they experience a normal range of human emotion. God created us to feel things, and He knows when we do feel them. We aren't supposed to suppress our natural reactions to disaster and think that this somehow makes us Christ-like. Jesus wept! More than once! Isaiah calls Jesus "a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief!" Hebrews 5:15 tells us that Christ can "sympathize with our weaknesses." He knows. He understands. And He wants us to bring it to him in all of its fullness. That is the only way it can be healed. A doctor can't prescribe a cure for the patient who refuses to come to him. (I'm not suggesting that we are supposed to stay in our deep grief or despair. But why do some people think we can't even experience grief and despair at all?)

I could go on and on about our cultural failings when it comes to grieving. We don't even wear black anymore when someone close to us has died. But lets not make the mistake of applying our culture's mistakes to the church body. Let's give each other room to feel pain, because life is just painful sometimes.