“My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his
correction: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth: and scourgeth every
son whom He receiveth.” Proverbs, Hebrews.
The question of suffering is one of the most sensitive questions. Many
ask themselves: why has God created us to suffer in this world from different
diseases, sorrows, calamities, troubles and misfortunes: from passions
on the inside, from bad people on the outside, from the envy of neighbours,
from the menace of enemies? For those who do not believe in God, this world
is a hopeless valley of sorrows: life for them is a sad symphony of wailing
and weeping. Some in their despair even say that there is no other hell
beyond the grave, that hell is here, on earth. In this way earthly sorrows,
not being lightened by the hopes of heavenly Revelation, lead to pessimism
and despair. The worst thing in such cases is that suffering does not carry
any meaning in itself that would soften it, making it doubtly hard to bear.
Here we will endeavor to examine the question of suffering in the light
of the Divine Revelation.
So, are we created for sorrow or for joy?
First of all, one thing must be clear to us: God has created us not for
sorrow, but for joy. Where do we see man for the first time? In Paradise!
According to the testimony of the Holy Bible, especially of the New Testament,
man is intended for Paradise, not for hell. The fact that many are perishing
does not yet mean that such were God's intentions for man. No! "God is
love". He does not want the death of the sinner, but on the contrary, "will
have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth". The
following situation is very significant: on Judgment Day, the Saviour will
say to the righteous: "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And He will say to
the sinners: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels." From this, it is clearly
seen that, according to God's plan, Paradise was prepared for men, and
hell - for the demons.
And now about the first man. God placed Adam in Paradise. In that wonderful
place of joy the first man was unspeakably happy because he was close to
God. Happiness is being with God, and away from Him there
is no true or lasting joy. In the Kingdom of God
where God Himself will rule, there will
be no sorrow.
God will wipe away every tear from the eye. Adam was happy in Paradise
as long as he had an inner connection with God through grace. But
where did sorrows come from? From sin. As soon as Adam sinned he
began to suffer, even though he was still in Paradise. Sin carries its
own punishment in itself. The devil destroys his friends: those who obey
his will. Conscience reproaches the one who goes against the divine principles
and transgresses God's commandments. Even before God drove Adam out of
Paradise, Adam himself had already left it inwardly by violating God's
law and by losing the grace. He began to suffer from the moment he fell.
It is not God, then, Who is to blame for Adam's suffering, but it is Adam
himself. God had created him for joy, but
he chose sorrow for himself.
Some will say: "If Adam has sinned, why
do we have to suffer because of him
today?" We are his children and as such we must share the fate of
our ancestor, but this answer treats only the objective side of the question.
There is another side as well, which is subjective and explains the strength
and consolation contained in our faith. We do not suffer only because of
some necessity to pay for our ancestor's sin. Everyone forges his own fate,
and under this circumstance we do not have to partake of all the disasters
and sufferings of which Adam became a victim. If we want to, we can
choose another way of life, not the way of disobedience and pride, which
ruined Adam, but the way of obedience and humility; and thus we can become
happy even here on earth. This was some-what possible even in Old Testament
times. There have been righteous people like King David, for example, who
found the lost joy of human life in their longing for God. How much more
possible this is in New Testament times, after the coming of Jesus Christ
Who came to earth to renew and regenerate fallen human nature, to restore
to us grace and the lost paradisiacal bliss!
The Word of God testifies of the Saviour and His wondrous
gifts of grace: "But as many as received
Him, to them gave He the power to
become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name". To become a child
of God, is this not the same as returning
to the lost Paradise? Is this not something
even greater? This is how kind God is towards us,
the children of Adam. He has given
us the opportunity to avoid the disastrous
fate of our ancestor if we want
to. Adam was gifted by God with a free
will, but he misused his freedom and transgressed
God's law. That is why he began to suffer. We,
too, have this great gift - freedom. If we
embrace God's law, if we subject our sinful will to the holy will of God,
we will not suffer like Adam but will foretaste the paradisiacal
joys even in this life, and in
the age to come we will also live
in bliss eternally with those who have
pleased God.
The saints are a proof of this. They, while still on earth, were as if
in Paradise, because they were always in a mystical communion with God.
They never fell away from His Law and through
their humility and obedience stayed firmly
in the grace which made them infinitely
happy. One of the most radiant saints - St.Seraphim of Sarov,
who died in 1833, had achieved such a
happiness on earth that it was simply overflowing
the banks of his soul and attracted all who
came to him in faith. For example, the Saint of Sarov greeted
every- one he met with the words: "What brings you to poor Seraphim,
my joy?" He was living in such a blissful and joyous
state that he always felt as if it
were Pascha (or Easter). That is why, even during the
winter, he often said to people: "Christ is risen,
my joy!" St.Seraphim of Sarov also lived
in a marvelous peace with all animals.
A huge bear used to come to him from
the woods to eat dried bread from
his hands. Does not this remind us of
Adam's condition in Paradise? How much more
wondrous is this because it happens
here, on earth: if things like this
can happen even here, what would the
condition of the righteous ones be
in heaven?
Suffering in its nature is nothing
else but a withdrawal from God. With God it would
be well even in hell. It is known that before the
death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ not one of
the righteous had access to Paradise.
Consequently, the righteous ones from Old
Testament who had died in faith were
in hell where they awaited their salvation.
Sorrow, however, did not touch them, because they were
with God. In the Book of Solomon's Wisdom
it is said: "But the souls of the righteous are in the hands
of God, and sorrow will not touch them. They
seemed dead to the eyes of the foolish... but they
abide in peace". On the other hand,
without God it would be terrible even
in Paradise.
This is the secret of suffering - separation
and withdrawal from God. If a man is
with God, he is happy and he
says, like the Psalmist: "For what have
I in Heaven? And besides Thee, what have I desired upon earth?"
God is the Source of joy, and the
devil - the source of suffering. That is
why even the sorrows which come to us according to
God's will in this temporary life carry
in themselves joy and lead to heavenly
glory if they are endured with faith
and trust in God's good providence. In contrast,
the temporal sinful pleasures with which the devil tempts us carry poison
in themselves, and their end is utter disappointment. Whoever follows
God is happy even in suffering, as
the holy Apostle Paul speaks: "sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing”; but whoever follows
the devil is unhappy even in his earthly
joys. How many wicked ones there are who seem to be prospering in this
world. But take a peek into their hearts. You will see such suffering,
such an emptiness.
It is true that the righteous, too, are not left without sorrows in life.
The Saviour Himself has prophesied to His Apostles: "In the world ye shall
have tribulation.” The holy Apostle Paul says directly: "All that will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." But how different
those sorrows, persecutions, and sufferings for Christ and in Christ are
from the sorrows of the wicked! Their sorrows lead to hopelessness and
despair, and the ones in Christ - to hope and joy. The sorrows of the faithless
are storms, which ravage everything, but the tears of the faithful are
a quiet, gracious rain which helps the beautiful flowers of virtue to grow
and bloom in the soul. This is one of the extraordinary things in
our precious Christian faith: IT BRINGS JOY EVEN IN SUFFERING. IT
TRANSFORMS THE SORROWS INTO BLISS.
When Jesus Christ was leaving this earthly life, He bequeathed to His beloved
disciples sorrows and tears as if they were a most precious gift: "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall
rejoice". He did this not to doom His beloved ones to inconsolable suffering,
but to draw even more radiantly on that dark background of suffering a
picture of the immeasu-rable bliss waiting for them. "Your sorrow shall
be turned into joy," He said to them, "your joy
no man taketh from you." Only Christ can give such
an eternal happiness, a happiness which cannot be taken away. In His sermon
He pronounced blessed those whom this sinful world considers to be the
most wretched: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the weeping,
blessed are the meek, the hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the persecuted
for righteousness sake, etc. Òî all those the Saviour said: "Rejoice, and
be exceeding glad.”
How strange! To rejoice when one is unhappy, poor, helpless, persecuted,
insulted, despised, hated, slandered! Before Christ, the world did not
know how to rejoice over such calamities, but now everything is reversed
through the power of the God-Man. "All things work together for good to
them that love God." For a believer, sorrow has lost its poisonous
sting. Quiet hope has taken the place of the bitter despair of suffering,
and suffering is not unbearably heavy any more, because it gives birth
to sweet fruit. Rejoice and be glad, because sorrows are a fiery furnace
in which gold is purified. Suffering is the hammer in the hand of the sculptor,
which makes the statue even more beautiful. Sufferings are those thorny
and frightening paths which lead to sunny peaks and paradisiacal views.
Rejoice and be glad! Jesus Christ Himself sanctified the road of suffering
with His feet! Rejoice and be glad! "For unto you it is given in
the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for
his sake". The Word of God calls suffering a FAVOUR. It is the destination
of the chosen ones of God. It is a medal of honor for the beloved of Christ.
When the holy Apostles were imprisoned for preaching the teaching of Christ,
when afterwards they were judged by the Sanhedrin, beaten, and threatened
so that they would stop speaking in the name
of Christ, and when they were freed
at last, they went out “REJOICING that
they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his
name". In this way, the first Christians considered suffering for
Christ to be a great honor and rejoiced in it. In the same spirit, the
holy Apostles advised the faithful followers of Christ (to value suffering).
For example, Apostle James writes: "Count it all joy when ye fall into
divers temptations." As St.Dimitri of Rostov teaches, the words "divers
temptations" are to be understood as "all kinds of sorrows, grieves, misfortunes,
persecutions, embittering diseases and adversities, impoverishment,
and suffering which occur either by
God's permission or by human menace, or
naturally, or by chance, or by an action of the
devil." In all such cases, the holy Apostles advised the Christians to
rejoice and to lay their sorrow on God. What a deep and perfect understanding
the first Christians had of suffering and its beneficial influence on the
soul of the person who endures it patiently.
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