We are in a season of suffering. It seems to be everywhere I look. Friends, family, church members and others are all going through an intense difficulty or trial of some sort, and it all seems to be occurring during this specific window of time. Liliya and I are definitely not exempt. My poor wife has been suffering from extreme abdominal pain for the last four weeks. We’ve been to several doctors who have been of no help. On top of that there have been some very difficult circumstances at my place of work, plus a teething ten month old! What is going on, God?! It makes me mad. It makes me doubt. There are often times when I wonder why God doesn’t break out of heaven and do something! “If you’re there, and you’re good, and you care, why are you just leaving us here in our pain?!” But sometimes, in the midst of my anger and doubt, I have moments of clarity and understanding. During those times I realize that God is bringing this suffering and pain so that He can give me more of Himself...so that I can cling more tightly to Him. In a sense, it is because He is good and because He loves us that He is allowing us to suffer, because in suffering we grab hold tight to the only thing that matters: Him. God is getting our attention, and attention to God is what we need.

C.S. Lewis famously stated that “pain is God’s megaphone.” Lewis couldn’t be more right. It is in our moments of distress that we cry out to God, seek God, need God. He uses suffering to rip our eyes and hands off the things of this world and fix them on the the only thing that lasts for eternity: Himself! He uses pain and suffering to give us the only thing we need. Wow! I should be thankful for suffering! It is, in fact, God’s mercy that He allows me to suffer, if suffering draws me to Him, since knowing Him means Eternal Life. No wonder then, why James 1:2 says, “Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds...”, and why the Apostle Paul says that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” If suffering and pain is the means that God uses to make me cling to Him in wholehearted trust and faith, thus securing my eternal home in Heaven, then bring on the suffering! I'll gladly take a few years of pain to inherit an eternity of glory! Let me rejoice in my sufferings for they lead to my salvation!

But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. - 1 Peter 4:13 

What if I told you God wrote a book? The invisible, unknowable force that put every star in its place, that knows all mysteries, that directs human history, and that is holding the fabric of existence together, decides to put letters and words on a page that you and I could read and understand. Letters and words that reveal his mind, his character, his purpose, our origins, our ends...everything we could ever want to know about everything! What a magnificent book! What a treasure to have! A gift above all gifts! To know the mind and mysteries of God! How often would you read a book like that? With what sort of intensity would you study a book like that?

Unfortunately, for me, the answer is: not often enough, and not intensely enough. I find this to be typical of the human experience...many of us are just not attracted to, drawn toward the word of God with the type of interest and zeal we should have toward a book of such immensity! When my students read through my lesson outlines, I often notice that they like to read the paragraphs that I write about a given topic, but they quickly breeze over the Bible verses from which I drew my conclusions. The same goes for me when I read a Christian book. I love to read, investigate, and consider the point that an author is trying to make, but when he inserts a Bible verse pertaining to his point, I skim over it quickly or forgo it altogether! Shouldn’t it be the other way around?! Shouldn’t I be obsessive about my investigation of the words of God, and dismissive of all other penmanship?! Shouldn’t I pour over the words of the Creator of the universe...studying His words with intensity and fervor, trying to suck every ounce of marrow that I can from each precious morsel?! Why is it that we don’t love the words of God with passionate, burning, magnetic love? Why don’t they pull us in the way that they should? Why is it that we spend lots of time reading the latest magazines, newspaper, and internet articles about our hobbies and interests, and yet can’t find time for serious study of the words of God Almighty, “the revealer of secrets, of mysteries unknown”?

When we consider how much time we waste reading and thinking about frivolous things, it is pertinent to remember that in the end, only God (and by extension, His Word) will remain. Everything that we think is so important will literally be burned by fire... “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” (2 Peter 3:10). Everything that we obsess about: celebrities, movies, recipes, home decorating, cars, toys, vacations, electronics...none of it will matter in the end. Only one thing will remain: God. Shouldn’t we spend time getting to know the Only Thing that we get to keep? I confess that I need to spend less time reading and thinking about things that don’t matter. I want to know the Unknowable. I want to know the God who has revealed Himself in a book. I better get reading!

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. - Isaiah 40:8