For those of us who resent or begrudge God for the suffering and sadness that consistently visit the human experience, we would do well to ponder the words of Dorothy L Sayers:
"Whatever the reason God chose to make man as he is -- limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death -- He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine.
And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:2-4
Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile."
We have all sinned and are all, therefore, deserving of God's judgment, which includes both physical and spiritual death (Romans 6:23). If this is not enough to humble us in the face of suffering, then perhaps the realization that God asks nothing of us that He hasn't asked of Himself should help. Especially in light of the fact that while we are deserving of our pain, Jesus was not. Add to these considerations the fact that there is one thing Jesus suffered that has not been asked of us--to die for our sins! THAT Jesus did for us. In light of all of this, we must let the bitter chill of resentment melt away and be replaced by the warmth of eternal gratitude.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name! Psalm 100:4 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!For His mercy endures forever. Psalm 107:1
[Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) born in Oxford, England, was a renowned translator of ancient literature, essayist, poet, mystery writer, and author of assorted Christian works.]
And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:2-4
Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile."
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name! Psalm 100:4 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!For His mercy endures forever. Psalm 107:1
[Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) born in Oxford, England, was a renowned translator of ancient literature, essayist, poet, mystery writer, and author of assorted Christian works.]
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