You may know the feeling.<\/p>\n
You pray.<\/p>\n
You believe.<\/p>\n
You hope.<\/p>\n
And still nothing changes.<\/p>\n
The illness stays.<\/p>\n
The relationship breaks.<\/p>\n
Your child goes another way.<\/p>\n
The body still hurts.<\/p>\n
And in the middle of it all the question creeps in \u2014 quietly, almost ashamed:<\/p>\n
Where is God?<\/p>\n
Not as a theological debate.<\/p>\n
But as a cry from the deepest place inside.<\/p>\n
\"My God, my God, why\u2026\" (Matthew 27:46)<\/p>\n
If Jesus himself prayed that prayer, then we may too.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
We are good at resurrection \u2014 less good at carrying the cross.<\/p>\n
We love Easter morning.<\/p>\n
The tomb is empty. The light breaks through. The praise rises.<\/p>\n
But many of us skipped past Good Friday too quickly.<\/p>\n
We have learned to think about victory in the Christian faith.<\/p>\n
But not always about pain in the midst of faith.<\/p>\n
So when the miracle fails to come, we stand there confused.<\/p>\n
For what do we do when:<\/p>\n
\u2022 the prayer continues<\/p>\n
\u2022 the faith continues<\/p>\n
\u2022 but the pain continues too?<\/p>\n
If our faith only has room for what resolves,<\/p>\n
then we lose our footing when life meets us with resistance.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
The New Testament does not promise a pain-free life<\/p>\n
Paul writes:<\/p>\n
\"If we are ready to suffer as Christ suffered, we can also count on sharing in the same glory that he received.\" Romans 8:17<\/p>\n
Notice the order.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Suffering<\/p>\n
\u2022 Glory<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cross<\/p>\n
\u2022 Resurrection<\/p>\n
Not the other way around.<\/p>\n
Christianity does not start with triumph.<\/p>\n
It starts at the cross.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
God does not waste your pain<\/p>\n
James writes that trials can produce endurance \u2014 and maturity (James 1:2-4).<\/p>\n
Not because suffering in itself is good.<\/p>\n
But because God can work in the middle of what we would never have chosen ourselves.<\/p>\n
It does not mean:<\/p>\n
\u2022 that God sends pain<\/p>\n
\u2022 that you have to keep quiet<\/p>\n
\u2022 that you may not pray for change<\/p>\n
It means:<\/p>\n
Nothing is wasted in God's hands.<\/p>\n
Even what crushes you, he can shape you through.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
Only the suffering God can help<\/p>\n
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:<\/p>\n
Only the suffering God can help.<\/p>\n
Jesus did not come to explain suffering.<\/p>\n
He entered into it.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Betrayed<\/p>\n
\u2022 Abandoned<\/p>\n
\u2022 Tortured<\/p>\n
\u2022 Crucified<\/p>\n
Christianity does not offer a God who stands at a distance.<\/p>\n
It offers a God with scars.<\/p>\n
That matters.<\/p>\n
For if God himself has known the darkness,<\/p>\n
then your darkness is not foreign to him.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
Not all suffering is punishment<\/p>\n
Job lost almost everything.<\/p>\n
His friends had quick explanations.<\/p>\n
They were theologically sharp.<\/p>\n
But cold at heart.<\/p>\n
Not all pain is the result of personal sin.<\/p>\n
Yes, sin has consequences.<\/p>\n
But if we turn all suffering into punishment,<\/p>\n
we become merciless toward one another \u2014 and toward ourselves.<\/p>\n
Sometimes suffering is just\u2026 suffering.<\/p>\n
And God is still God.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
When the healing does not happen<\/p>\n
Let's be honest.<\/p>\n
For some, the pain only disappears in the world to come.<\/p>\n
We live between:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Here and now \u2014 the resurrection is a reality<\/p>\n
\u2022 Not yet \u2014 the restoration is not complete<\/p>\n
That means we can:<\/p>\n
\u2022 pray boldly<\/p>\n
\u2022 believe in miracles<\/p>\n
\u2022 fight against illness<\/p>\n
And at the same time hold on to God's goodness, even if nothing changes.<\/p>\n
That is mature faith.<\/p>\n
Not cynical.<\/p>\n
Not passive.<\/p>\n
But anchored.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
A faith that holds in the dark<\/p>\n
A healthy understanding of suffering does at least three things:<\/p>\n
\u2022 It keeps us from going into shock when life hits.<\/p>\n
\u2022 It protects our faith when the miracle fails to come.<\/p>\n
\u2022 It teaches us to find God in the dark \u2014 not only after it.<\/p>\n
For God is not only God on the mountain.<\/p>\n
He is also God in the valley. The summit is lovely for the view, but the fruit grows in the valley.<\/p>\n
\"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I have nothing to fear, for you walk at my side; your shepherd's staff protects me.\" Psalm 23:4<\/p>\n
Notice:<\/p>\n
Not around the valley.<\/p>\n
But through it.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
So where is God?<\/p>\n
He is not absent.<\/p>\n
He is on the cross.<\/p>\n
He is in the tears, in the pain.<\/p>\n
He is in the long, hard haul.<\/p>\n
He is in the room when you can't manage any more pious answers.<\/p>\n
And maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 he is closer than you think.<\/p>\n
\u2e3b<\/p>\n
May I ask you an honest question?<\/p>\n
Does your faith have room for Good Friday?<\/p>\n
Or does it only hold as long as things move forward?<\/p>\n
If the cross regains the center, we do not lose our faith when the pain stays.<\/p>\n
For in the crucified Christ we do not just see God's power.<\/p>\n
We see God's heart.<\/p>\n
And His heart does not fail.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You may know the feeling.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fredagsartikler"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2851,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2814\/revisions\/2851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}