This article first appeared in the “Sword and Shield” Newsletter of Bellator Christi 09/2023

By Deanna Huff, PhD

Throughout the last seven years, I have said goodbye to several loved ones and experienced unexpected hardships. I have often sat and prayed with those grieving over the day’s suffering. Where is God in the suffering? Why does he seem absent in adversity? Where is the hope? In A Greif Observed by C. S. Lewis, he writes, “When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be – or so it feels – welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside.”[1] Lewis shares the same emotions as many Christians who experience suffering. Although these may be the feelings of some believers in times of suffering, God has not locked the door, nor is he absent. He is with his people in the suffering, and he is bringing meaning to it.

Sometimes, it is challenging to think God can bring any good from the suffering we experience. We are unable to see the full picture of God’s plan. Lewis notes this as well, he states toward the end of the book, “the door is not locked. Instead, there is a rather compassionate gaze. As if God is responding to our questions about suffering with ‘Peace; child you don’t understand.'” This difficulty is probably the same struggle the disciples felt in attempting to make sense of the crucifixion of Christ before the resurrection or when Joseph was thrown into the well. It probably seemed like life was over for Joseph. Yet, Paul writes in Acts 7:9, God was with him.” The word with means “together with” or “on the same side.” God is on our side with us. Jesus states in Matthew 28:20, “I am always with you, to the end of the age.” He will never leave us.

Reading A Grief Observed exposes the raw feelings sufferers may experience for a time, and in the end, Lewis advocates there is a hope God brings in the midst of suffering. It reminds me of the Psalms and Lamentations. For example, in Lamentations, Jeremiah is crying out over the destruction of the exile, yet he writes, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases his mercies never end; they are new every morning great is your faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, says my soul; therefore, I will hope in him.” If you are experiencing a season of suffering and sorrow, then weep and honestly share with God. Read through the Psalms and Bible stories that help comfort our sorrows, reminding us that God is with us and one day he will make all things new (Rev 21:5).

[1] C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (New York, NY: Harper One, 1961) 6.