Tribulations

Tribulations Build Humility

"We advance toward humility by means of trials. He who rests on his virtue without suffering tribulation has the door of pride open before him." -- St. Isaac of Syria, Homily 57, in Ascetical Homilies, p. 283, 7th century

We Must Suffer to Understand the Suffering of Others

"The beginning and end of Christian leadership is to give your life for others… Real martyrdom means a witness that starts with the willingness to cry with those that cry, laugh with those that laugh, and to make one’s own painful and joyful experiences available as sources of clarification and understanding.

"Who can save a child from a burning house without taking the risk of being hurt by the flames? Who can listen to a story of loneliness and despair without taking the risk of experiencing similar pains in his own heart and even losing his precious peace of mind? In short: 'Who can take away suffering without entering it'.

"'The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.'" -- Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholemew, Pastoral Thought of the Week, 13 July, 2014, NB: the last sentence is from Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, Image Books Doubleday, 1979, p.72

Suffering Increases Faith

"Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God's glory. Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God's wrath. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation." -- Romans 5:1-11(NET)

"But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman — I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

"If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he for ever!) knows that I do not lie. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas set a guard on the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

"It is necessary to boast; nothing is to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows — was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.' So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." -- 2 Cor 11:21-33;12:1-9 (NRSV)

"My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything." -- James 1:2-4 (NET)

When the Haters be Hatin'

"...why do the words of men on earth agitate you, who have fixed your heart on heaven...? Paul, a leader of good men, says, 'Let every man prove his own work, and so shall he have glory in himself, and not in another' (Gal. 6:4). For, if we are rejoiced by praises and broken down by detractions, we have set our glory not in ourselves, but in the mouth of others." -- St. Gregory the Great

God Is With Us

Joseph faced many tribulations. He was sold into slavery. He was falsely accused. He was thrown into prison. He suffered unjustly, and yet in all this we are told that God was with him (Gen 39:2; 39:21).

In the above passage (2 Cor 11:21-33;12:1-9) we know that Paul was an Apostle of Christ, yet although God was with him, he suffered many tribulations. Consider the fate of the Apostles:

James the Greater, son of Zebedee, was beheaded in Jerusalem, 44 A.D.

James the Lesser was crucified in Egypt, and his body was sawn in pieces.

Thomas was tortured and finally slain with spears at Chennai (Modern Southeast India), around 50 A.D.

Phillip was crucified at Heirapole, Phryga, 52 A.D.

Bartholomew was flayed, crucified, then beheaded in Albania, 52 A.D.

Matthew was slain by being burned alive in Ethiopia, about 60 A.D.

James son of Alphaeus was crucified in Egypt, circa 60 A.D.

Barnabas was stoned to death in Cyprus, circa 60 A.D.

Thaddeus was crucified then killed by being shot by arrows, Lebanon 65 A.D.

Peter was crucified in Rome, about 65 A.D.

Paul was beheaded in Rome, about 65 A.D.

Andrew was crucified in Achea, Greece, around 70 A.D.

Simon was crucified in Abkhazia (Georgia), 74 A.D.

John died in exile on the Isle of Patmos, 96 A.D.

What greater, more faithful Christians could there be other than the Apostles? Yet they suffered greatly.

And let us not forget the thousands of Christians who have been imprisoned, beaten, tortured, and killed over the centuries for their belief. Even in recent times the Greeks have suffered under the Ottomans; Eastern Europeans and Russians have been oppressed under communism; Christian Arabs have been treated cruelly by both Muslims and Jews in the Middle East; and most recently Christians are even now suffering in Sudan, Indonesia, and the Phillipines.

Many times people pray to be delivered from their tribulations, and when they are not, they assume that their prayers are not answered. But Jesus did not promise that we would receive everything we asked for in prayer, but that we would receive the Holy Spirit (Luke 11). God gives us that which is spiritually profitable for us, not necessarily what we want. Indeed, it would be a terrible world to live in if we were given everything we asked for by God, as if prayer were some sort of magical incantation. We should not expect an easy, stress-free, middle class lifestyle just because we are Christian. -- Wcrowe 03:56, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Why We Suffer

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“God never gives us more than we can handle.” “God’s testing me, or you, or us.” “What lesson is God trying to teach me through this awful thing?” “It’s God’s will.”

I hear those phrases so often, and every time I do, I want to shake the person offering them until their teeth rattle. It’s a way of offering comfort, to ourselves or to others when we don’t have anything more concrete and reassuring to say. But they’re not true. They trivialize people’s suffering, and they give a completely mistaken impression of who and what God is.

“God never gives us more than we can handle”

Oh, really? Try telling that to the parents whose children died at Sandy Hook. Or to the nuns in the monastery of St. Theckla in Syria. Or my friend, who, in the midst of raising three teenage boys and caretaking her father as he descended into the hell of Alzheimer’s, had to watch her brother sicken and die in two weeks, from causes that no one could find.

What does that say about God and His purpose? God makes awful things happen to us, so He can step in and rescue us? Send us help and support at unforeseen times and in odd ways? That He’ll beat us and pummel us, give us misery and tragedy and hardship, but then help us out so we’ll know how much He loves us? Really?

If that’s God, then I want out, because that’s an abusive parent. I do not believe God is abusive. Why? Why would God “give” us any suffering, when He has constantly, ages after ages, shown how much He loves and cherishes us and suffers when we do?

“Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.”

To which some people answer: God’s testing me. God sends suffering and pain, temptation and evil so He can test us. When did life become a school? When’s recess and why can’t I have your snack? Is this on the midterm? If I pass the final, do I go to heaven? And if I get an A+ can my halo have gilding?

God knows us through and through. He knows the best and the worst in us. “Testing” us, so that we pass or fail, get an “A” in steadfastness, but a C- in patience and fortitude, and really blow it by getting an F for humility doesn’t make any sense.

Why would He test us, when He already knows every hair on our head, every thought in our hearts and every unspoken wish we ourselves aren’t even aware of? Why would He test us when He can see the whole scope of human history and already knows how we responded, because He is outside of time, and inhabits eternity?

More to the point, why would a loving, merciful and kind God put us through a test that could break us, destroy us and irreparably separate us from Him, when He’s told us again and again how much He wants us with Him?

“Life is a school. Hardship is a lesson.”

So that we can learn, I’m told. People keep saying that God’s trying to teach us a lesson through tragedy, senseless violence and overwhelming events. But He’s not. There are no more lessons to be taught. School is out.

God gave us all the lessons we need, and it’s up to us now to put those lessons into practice. That’s what daily life is for. That’s what the small frustrations, daily temptations and innumerable stumbling stones in our everyday round are for. That’s what fasting, prayer, liturgy and confession are for. The practice of the lessons that God taught and the Fathers expounded on.

The lesson that He summed up: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself. That’s the lesson.

“It’s God’s will.”

God is so tired of evil, of (fill in your favourite outrage) that He sent war, famine, earthquakes, death, illness, random violence and cruelty to punish us, or to punish those evil, nasty people doing (fill in your favourite outrage). Horse pucky.

God doesn’t need to punish us. We’re more than capable of punishing ourselves and others with no help at all from Him. And He promised us that the days of punishment were over, remember? That’s the reason for the rainbow. If He wanted to punish us or others, then why did He die, horribly, on a cross, at the hands of frightened, broken men who were no better and no worse than we are, in order to save us from death and eternal separation from Him, the worst fate of all?

Disasters, tragedies and suffering aren’t God’s will for us, they aren’t lessons to be learned, they aren’t tests that we’ll pass or fail and they aren’t carefully designed to fit within our breaking point. They’re the result of living in a fallen, broken world with fallen, broken people, created by a God who had such love for us that He gave us free will, so we would choose Him over our own weaknesses and failings, submit to His love for us and become more like Him.

If there is a lesson to be learned from human suffering, it is that God is there, in the trenches, bleeding and hurting with us. That every natural disaster, every terminal disease, every man-made tragedy, from war to terrorism to drunken driving happen because the physical world fell when we did, death entered the world in painful, drawn out and humiliating ways, and people too often choose to follow their own fallen, broken will and inflict pain on others rather than follow Christ’s narrow, joyfilled path.

The lesson is that He loves us in spite of what we do to ourselves and each other. The lesson is that we are to be His arms and His heart in the world, reaching out to each other in love, humility and pain, to suffer with each other and love each other through it all. The lesson is that His love and forgiveness and healing are within our grasp if we choose them. The lesson is that He loved us so much that He became one of us and allowed us to torture and kill Him, so He could rise again, defeat death and once and for all reconcile us to Him in love and mercy and joy." -- Bev Cooke, OCN, September 9, 2014

See Also

Faith