The Suffering Schedule

What if you knew when and how you were to suffer?  Suppose you knew that you were going to have a car wreck Wednesday at 2:00 pm?  How about if you knew in advance that in the second week of next month you were going to be diagnosed with cancer?  Suppose you were given notice that tomorrow when you went into work you would be called into the office and told your services were no longer needed?  Would you like to know beforehand that this weekend your child would be hit by a car?

Are you prepared to suffer?  You're saying, "Dr. Moore, of course I am prepared.  I have automobile insurance in case anything happens to my car.  I have a great health insurance plan from my job that will cover me in case of illness.  I have an emergency fund and unemployment insurance in case I lose my job. My children are covered if anything happens to them."

No, I didn't ask you if you were financially prepared.  Are you, yourself, prepared for the suffering that is to come upon you?  I don't want to shock you, but these things are going to happen.  Everyone that has lived, is living, or is yet to be born is going to suffer.  Unfortunately, we are not given a schedule in advance that tells us exactly how we are going to suffer and the exact time.  We have to know in advance that these things are going to happen to all of us.  As Jesus says in I Peter 4:12, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you."

Think for a minute about one of my patients who comes in for a lung biopsy.  I perform the biopsy, and they go home and wait for the result.  The pathology report comes to my office and I review it and the diagnosis is lung cancer.  God, in His sovereign power, knew since the beginning of time, before the foundations of this world were laid, that this would be the answer.  I knew the answer when the pathology report reached my desk.  My patient knows when they come into my office and sit down across from me and I break the news to them and their spouse.  At this point, the only one who is surprised is my poor patient.

And that is the way it is for so much suffering.  We are so surprised when it happens.  When our car is struck by another vehicle on Wednesday, we are jolted.  When the phone call comes that our child has been struck by a car, we are overwhelmed by the shock.  If only we could be told in advance, so that we had a schedule of our sufferings, then we could at least plan for it and not be surprised. 

We don't get a suffering schedule, only the advance knowledge that we will suffer.  It is up to us to plan and prepare, to be ready for when it comes.  Hopefully, the discussions that follow will you to plan for these terrible things, to be ready for them, and be better able to deal with them.  Forewarned is forearmed, and although God has not given us foreknowledge of the exact suffering that will be coming, he has indeed given us advance knowledge that we will be suffering.  This should not provoke anxiety but rather calm.  We should not lose sleep over this, but instead sleep peacefully knowing that although these things are forthcoming, God has forseen what is to come and has provided preparation for us.