Suffering

Invariably when we suffer we suffer alone be it physical or mental pain. Though those around us may know we are suffering they can only watch, the experience is intense and personal ,sometimes short , sometimes prolonged. Suffering visits in many guises and at different times often bringing a lesson , often teaching us something about oneself that we never realised , it is an experience had we the choice we would avoid yet at some point in life it is inevitable.

The Prophet Isaiah lived circa 800 years before Jesus yet he foretold with detail His coming and His suffering. In the run up this week to events that take Him to the Crisis at the Cross we are again reminded of His lone suffering over 48 hours. His friends fell asleep , betrayed and denied Him. All of them acted like those around us today , humanity failing when called upon, inevitable yet instructive.We witness the suffering of war our own impotent flaws helping at the edges but not in the heat of despair.

Isaiah told us in the 50th Chapter of the Bible book of his name that the perpetrators of suffering will wear away like a garment eaten by a tiny moth and in Ukraine we wait for this now. Suffering does pass and in the extreme through our own death yet the door marked exit proved not to be a door of departure but entry to eternity free from suffering, no more pain, no more tears, free at last.

When suffering does visit , see it as the temporary imposter that it is. Live through it in the knowledge that it will end and take lesson from it. Yes you will feel alone but you are not for the one Isaiah spoke of has devised already your escape route and the promise of freedom far away from pain of any kind. You will have victory , your suffering will end.