A Place of Suffering

The world is full of suffering we seldom see.  Young women should be pushing strollers, not walkers. Babies should be crying for milk, not because of pain.  People should be dreaming dreams of days to come, not just hoping there will be a few more.  There are places around us filled wall-to-wall with those who know suffering, pain, and uncertainty as their daily companions.  The most of us hurry by behind the very thin illusion that such will never touch us.  And when we are forced to see and face the real reality in which we live, we want to close our eyes, look the other way, or at least escape back into our world of comfort and ease.

 

The roads Jesus walked was littered with the broken and suffering people. There were times when the whole and the well ones tried to keep the hurting ones away from Jesus, out of His presence and theirs.  But, He would have none of it. No place He was going was more pressing than the needs of the suffering ones.  He cared enough to care for the broken bodies and the sin-ridden souls.  Surely, the only reason He could live out in the real world where people struggle and suffer was because of His intimate spiritual connection with the Father.  He viewed the world not just through the eyes of mortal men, but through the eyes of God, the Father in heaven.

 

Today my world of ease and well being is being assaulted by the presence of the broken and suffering community which has existed all my life, but until now, has been pushed into those places where it seemed to be invisible.  There is some callous insensitivity for which I need repent and ask forgiveness.  And as I do, I will pray, too, for those souls around me whose hope is that Jesus will pass by to touch them with strength, hope, and healing for the journey ahead of them.