“Suffering, to be broken, must be spoken.” - Mark Forrest
Mark said this during an Easter Sunday sermon. He was talking about the two on the road to
Emmaus, how Jesus acted as if he didn’t know why they were sad, giving them
opportunity to speak of their grief and sadness. Basically, God knows that we need to talk
about our suffering in order for that suffering to heal or to be relieved. We hear this often in counseling that we need
to speak about what is hurting us or what we’ve been through. Talking about it brings healing.
That thought stuck with me, and I’ve been mulling it over
and over. I’ve always been a
“stuffer.” For years, during my mother’s
illness, I would just push down the pain, the hurt, and the confusion of what
was going on in our family. It took
years for healing to take place, but I first had to voice the suffering! I had to talk about the pain of losing mom, the
pain of grieving for years and years, the pain of not understanding the many
“whys.” I had to get beyond stuffing to
talking!
I think many people are this way. We try to ignore or deny suffering, or at
least put a positive spin on it. I
recently read a blog about the very harmful words “at least.” Sometimes others say that to try to comfort
us in a loss, but we also use those words ourselves to avoid acknowledging
suffering in our lives. We will
suffer! This world is broken, and we
will suffer! But here’s where the spoken
Word comes in.
Logos. The Word made
flesh. Jesus. He speaks to us, calling us to acknowledge
our pain and sin and hurt. “Come to me
all who are weary and heavy burdened…” (Matt 11:28). He invites us, but we have to speak up and
say, “Me! I’m weary! I’m heavy burdened!” And He will give us rest. He, the Man of Sorrows, the Suffering
Servant. The one who became flesh to
experience suffering. He speaks to our
condition, but calls us to repentance.
That involves us saying that we acknowledge our sin, our pain, and
calling out to Him for forgiveness and transformation. This is where we are changed for
eternity! Does it make all of the pain
and hurt disappear? No. It is still there. But it is being carried by the One who knows,
the one who loves us more than anyone.
The suffering is broken. It is
now being shared, carried by another, the only One who can fully carry it and
offer the hope of heaven where there is no more suffering!
Coming to Him, sharing with Him, speaking to Him, confessing
to Him will break the bondage of sin and suffering. “Because, if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the
mouth one confesses and is saved.” Romans 10:9-10. I think this goes beyond initial
salvation. For me, it is a daily crying
out to Him, talking with Him, having that relationship with my Savior, my Lord,
the one who broke the power of sin and death through His death and
resurrection!! As I daily confess that
Jesus is Lord and believe, daily, that God raised Him from the dead, I trust Him
to carry my burdens, and that breaks the power of my suffering. I know that He is greater! And I know that the brokenness of this world
will not endure. But His love for me
will. And I can take another step
forward. In joy.
