FEEDING OF THE HUNGRY IN ZIMBABWE
At the wedding that I attended last Saturday I took time to sit down with my ex-mother-in-law and discuss with her about life in general. We talked about how life has become very painful in Zimbabwe with all the suffering that Zimbabweans experience first hand or witness from people around them. I told her that the greatest hope for this nation lay in continuing to pray sincerely for our nation. The response I got from her when I said that made me open my mouth agape with surprise topped with sadness. She said, "MaiAmanda give me ten reasons why I should continue to believe in a God that allows so much suffering." Her response touched me at the very core of my heart as I realised that the hyper-inflation in this country has now penetrated the Christian faith and is shaking it. Before giving her an answer I took a moment to pray quietly to God to speak through my mouth to convince my ex-mother-in-law that he(God) loves Zimbabweans even though he is allowing their suffering. I said to her, "Gogo vaAmanda everytime we suffer God suffers with us just as you would suffer everytime your son or daughter suffers. God allows suffering because it is all part of his way of moulding humans to learn to use their free will in the right way all the time and to learn to raise their level of faith to an extend that they trust and believe in him even in pain and suffering." That is all I could say in brief before being whisked away by my friends Chipo & Agnes to go and join them at the free-style dance floor. Days after the wedding my ex-mother-in-law's demand for ten reasons to believe in a God that allows suffering kept knawing at the back of my mind and I knew that as long as I didn't come up with those ten reasons for myself peace of mind would elude me. So starting yesterday afternoon I have been fasting and meditating about it and read the bible until late into the night in search of those ten reasons why we should believe in a God that allows suffering. This is what I came up with.
1. Suffering comes because of the wrong choices we make
God gave us humans the greatest gift of all, which is the freedom to choose. The freedom to choose is at the heart of what it means to be human and a world without choice would be worse than a world without pain. Worse yet would be a world populated by people who could make wrong choices without the result being pain & suffering. God is very powerful and could easily stop our suffering in the blink of an eye but he is not doing that because he gave Zimbabweans the freedom to choose their leaders. The reason we are suffering here in Zimbabwe is because we made the wrong choice back then in 1980 when we chose a party that values the spilling of blood so much that they sing about it, "ZANU ndeyeropa", instead of choosing a party that values the Holy Spirit. In later elections the majority did try to undo that choice by voting for MDC (I am not sure if they value the Holy Spirit) but according to God that is also a wrong choice because if it was the right choice Tsvangirai would have been ruling the country by now. No one is more dangerous than the leader who doesn't care about the dying masses and is more concerned about his passport and the rich and priviledged lifestyle that moving from a labour movement into politics has brought him. When the right leader who in the eyes of God is appropriate to rule Zimbabwe finally hears his calling and accepts it the suffering in this nation will end. We Zimbabwean civilians are always making wrong choices that cost us, instead of choosing to speak out for our rights and our well being, we are choosing to keep quiet and let the leaders treat us inhumanely. Until we learn to use the free will that God gave us to make the right choices for the good of our nation this suffering will continue.
2. God suffers with us in our suffering
1Peter2v21, 1Peter3v18, 1Peter4v1
God looks at us with tears in his eyes and a sad heart as we make wrong choices because he would be aware of the pain and suffering that those wrong choices will cause us but because of the gift of free will he gave us he can't stop us unless we entrust our choices to him. When we suffer after making the wrong choices he suffers with us because he loves us. If in your suffering you doubt God's love think about his decision to pay for our sins in the crucified body of his own son Jesus Christ. That is the ultimate show of love that we should never doubt. No one has ever suffered more than the way Jesus suffered when he was crucified on the cross and died for our own benefit. It is this same Jesus and his father who is also our father that ask us to trust them when we are suffering and when our loved ones cry out in our presence.
3. The human heart is developed in pain and suffering.
Job42v1-17, Rom5v3-5, Jas1v2-5, Pet1v6-8
Capacities for love, mercy, dignity, compassion and generosity can lie dormant until awakened by circumstances. Strength and weakness of heart are found not when everything is going our way but when flames of suffering and temptation test the mettle of our character. As gold and silver are refined by fire and as coal needs time and pressure to become a diamond, the human heart is revealed and developed in the presence of pain and suffering.
4. In times of suffering we sort our priorities right.
2Cor1v3-4
Hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, riots, illnesses, accidents, hunger, economic depressions, recessions, hyper-inflations, injustices & dictatorships all have a way of bringing us to our senses. Suddenly we remember our own mortality and that people are more important than material things. We remember that we do need one another and that above all we need God. In our own suffering, our capacity to help others is increased.
5. Suffering gives us an opportunity to trust God
Job1v42
Acoording to the Bible, a man named Job lost his family to a mighty wind, his wealth to war and fire and his wealth to war and fire and his health to painful boils. As Job endured accusations of his friends, heaven remained silent. When God finally did speak, he talked about the animals, the wonders of the heavens, the marvels of the sea and the cycle of the seasons. Job was left to conclude that if God had the power and wisdom to create the universe, there was reason to trust that same God in times of suffering.
6. Suffering makes us realise that this life is not all we have to live for.
Mt5v1-12, Rom8v18-19
Those who find themselves and their eternal God through suffering, will discover to their own unending joy why Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God."
If death is the end of everything, then a life filled with suffering isn't fair. But if the end of this life brings us to the threshold of eternity, then the most fortunate people in the universe are those who discover, through suffering that this life is not all we live for.
7. Suffering and pain is neccessary in life.
Eccl1v12, Psa78v34-35, Rom3v10-18
We all hate pain and suffering, especially in those we love. Yet without pain and suffering in this world we wouldn't appreciate and rejoice about how good it feels to lead a painless life devoid of suffering. Because humans know pain and suffering, criminals fear the law, cildren obey through fear of the suffering caused by punishment if they don't & the sick go to the doctor to be treated. People are grateful and thank God when their lives lack that pain and suffering that they know about it, appreciation of God's grace in their lives is increased. Without knowledge of pain and suffering people who are made to find satisfaction in an eternal God would settle for less.
8. Suffering builds us into prayer warriors and draws us nearer to Christ
2Cor12v9-10
The apostle Paul pleaded with the Lord to take away an identified source of suffering, but the Lord declined saying, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul then said, "Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me, I will take pleasure in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak then I am strong." Paul learned that he would rather be with Christ in suffering than without Christ in good health and pleasant circumstances.
9. Pain and suffering paves the way for a graceful depature into heaven
Eccl12v1-14
Imagine the pain and suffering of people ravaged by hunger and cholera. Their bodies become increasingly worse for the waer, joints stiffen and ache, eyes grow dim, digestion comes to a stand still and sleep becomes difficult. Problems loom larger while options narrow. Yet if death is not the end but the threshold of a new day, then such pain that leads to death & a new life in heaven devoid of pain becomes welcome. Each new pain when we are about to die, makes this world less inviting and the next life more appealing. In its own way, pain and suffering paves the way for a graceful depature to meet God and Jesus in heaven.
10. God can turn suffering around for our own good
Through Job's suffering we see a man who became a source of encouragement for people in every generation to follow. Through the betrayal and wrongful imprisonment of a man named Joseph, we see someone who eventually was able to say to those who hurt him, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." (Genesis50v20) When everything in us screams at the heavens for allowing suffering, we have reason to look at the eternal outcome and joy of Jesus who in his own suffering cried, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"(Mt27v46)
ZIMBABWEANS THIS IS MY MESSAGE TO YOU
Click on the picture below for a clearer view of the message.
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