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Sometimes I find it hard to understand why good people have to suffer, and sometimes I find myself standing at someone’s bedside asking, 'Why?'


I think it’s okay to ask that question, and I ask it in many different ways.


In God’s call to Jeremiah, God tells the prophet, 'Be not afraid, for I am with you to deliver you.'


It amazes me that God didn’t say, 'protect.' Somehow I expect God to tell Jeremiah, 'Be not afraid, for I am with you to protect you,' but God doesn’t.


And the same is true for Jesus. God didn’t cause his suffering and death. And God didn’t protect him from it, though God delivered Jesus through the resurrection.


The Scripture is filled with great promises of deliverance. 'The Lord is my light and my salvation,' the psalmist says. '[W]hom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?'


That’s a song of faith in God’s deliverance.


Still, the psalmist recognizes the reality of evil, because he says that when evildoers assail him, or the host camps against him, he will hide in God’s tent. He will turn to God to be delivered.


So the psalm recognizes the reality of evil, and it tells us to be patient and to cry out to the Savior. 'Wait for the Lord,' the psalmist says. '[B]e strong, and let your heart take courage; yea, wait for the Lord.'


No matter what I have to face, God is with me, and God will deliver me. The same God who formed the prophet Jeremiah in the womb, and the same God who consecrated him before he was even born, delivers us, delivers *.


And in a way, that’s what Paul says in Second Corinthians, too.


'So do not lose heart,' the great apostle says. 'Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day (4:16).'


Then Paul goes on to say that our momentary afflictions prepare us for an eternal weight of glory, and I have to think that that’s the way it was for ** as well.


In the gospel according to Mark, it was in the cross that the centurion knew Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God — and he was the first one in the gospel to really know that.


Sometimes in our suffering — and his — we are closest to the Savior.


And so the final passage of Scripture which I chose for today is also a good one to remember. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, the Scripture from Revelation says. The time will come when God will wipe away all tears and there will be no more death, grief or crying.


Some time ago, a minister friend of mine spent a day at a place called Valley Hope, a 30-day treatment center for alcoholics and drug abusers. While he was there, he got to watch a cup-hanging, the little ceremony the alcoholic goes through before he or she leaves extended treatment.


Most alcoholics drink gallons of coffee, my friend was told, and so, when they leave Valley Hope, they hang their coffee cups on pegs along the wall, and if they go for a whole year sober or drug-free, they return to Valley Hope and are given their coffee cup to keep.


One Friday morning, my friend got to watch a man named Ken hang his cup, and he got to hear him talk about how there has to be a valley if there is to be a hope.


That makes good sense to me. There was a cross for Jesus, and there was a resurrection, and because there was, I can live in hope, and I can faithfully commit our friend and loved one ** to a loving Savior.

Let Us Pray


Almighty God, one who formed the prophet Jeremiah in the womb and consecrated him before he was even born, we cry out to you. You, and you alone, are God. Help us to hide in your tent and to trust in you.


We commit our friend * to you, knowing it is you who save, and you who bless. Now open our hearts to your living presence. Bring us peace, and wipe away our tears, now and forevermore. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.



*Person’s first name
**Person’s full name