Overwhelming

Just now the Revised Common Lectionary is covering the Book of Job in the Old Testament. This book is one of the most wonderful books of the Old Testament. It deals with the universal problem of suffering. Even today people say "What have I done to deserve this?" In the time of the story it was believed that to suffer was to be paid out for wrong doing. This is what Job's so-called comforters were trying to impress on him. Probably because he thought he really was being punished, Job could not understand his predicament. He had been immensely rich with a wife, children and vast flocks and herds of animals. He suddenly found himself divested of all these and had a dreadful smelly condition to worsen things. No one wanted to remain in his company for long!

For us, today, there remains the problem of how to deal with acute suffering. This will always be with us. Many people suffer pain throughout their lives and they know there is no pill that can make a difference. Quite often sufferers have found relief in a particular drug only to find that it is withdrawn as dangerous or having serious side effects. How will they carry on?

Sometimes it is just a great list of problems that beset a person and he or she must bear this load somehow. Perhaps they have been ill treated by someone, maybe abused sexually or otherwise. The fact is that that carry a burden that will not go away. Sleeping becomes a problem and perhaps nightmares add to the load. How can they cope with a burden this heavy?

Some people turn to prayer in order to pursue the road to release. But what if, once the prayer has been offered, there is a silence? What is their next move?

Throughout the world there are thousands and thousands of people who are suffering to this sort of degree. What do we say to them? What is the answer when they ask the question? Many of them have suffered an abuse, the memory of which remains throughout life. So there is no prospect of a release from this, is there? Be assured, there are many who find it difficult to cope with their own personal load. But they need help. Who can help them?

Some years ago I spoke to a woman who told me about the response from a Christian I knew. The woman had suddenly lost her husband and the Christian said to her, "Don't worry. God will give you strength. Just have faith and you will get through." The one thing lacking here was empathy. A few years later the second person lost her own husband. When she met the first woman, she could only apologise for the way she had spoken before.

We have to be honest and say that from time to time life can be completely overwhelming. So what is our response? In the news we come across many tales of people being so overwhelmed by their problems that they commit suicide. Sometimes, a member of our family takes this way out and we have to come to terms with what has happened. I have to say that there are no easy answers to situations like these.

Many years ago there was a great Christian called Dr Thomas Grenfell who worked as a doctor with the Labrador fishing fleets. He told the story of a young woman who had joined the crew of a fishing vessel as ship's cook. She was pregnant and Grenfell was called in to help her when a complication occurred. He took her off the ship and took care of her in a Moravian Mission Station. Her successfully corrected what was wrong in physical terms. But she just turned to him and said, "I can never go home, Doctor. I just want to die." When she died he had her buried on a headland and had placed on her grave a headstone which read, "Suzanne. And Jesus said,'neither do I condemn thee.'"

There are times when we do not know where to turn to get rid of a burden. We are simply overwhelmed by it. So, what can we do to deal with our load of worry and care? Well, I suggest we turn to Jesus to share it with him. It will not make our burden disappear but we shall know we are talking to one who empathises. The man on the cross endured great pain and agony for us. He knows what suffering is and he will not turn away if we go to him.

Speaking about the human condition, the ancient philosopher, Senecca once said, "What we need is a hand let down to the place of suffering." It has been my personal experience that this is not the way it works. I have taken ninety funeral services over the years and I have never shirked the problem of coping in grief. I have said to congregations of mourners that they will not be left alone to grieve. God will come to them and help them through. But how do this operate in practice? It works because God sends people to us (with or without their knowledge) and it is they who help us through. God always comes through fellow human beings. So what we experience is not a "hand let down" but a hand extended.

The problem of pain and suffering is always experienced as if we are alone. So when someone comes to us and offers their hand we have that realisation that no longer need we feel alone. As a teenager I listened to Pastor Martin Niemuller speaking to an audience. He spoke of his imprisonment by the Nazis and counted the doors that closed between him and "the book" as he was led to his cell for the first time. Without his Bible he felt alone. To feel alone and maybe forgotten is a dreadful feeling. So when a friend appears it is a great moment indeed.

We Christians declare that we are never alone but there are times when it really seems to be the case. It is frightening and marginalising. We become like poor children gazing through a sweet shop window at food we know will never be ours. It is a very effective ploy to make someone think they are alone and forgotten. Yet we have to get through somehow. No easy or trite answers can ever be expected. There will be those who will venture to suggest some platitude or other but ignore them. When the burden weighs down on you, simply remember that Jesus had a burden to carry too - a cross on which he was going to die. Whenever troubles pile up we can turn to one who has suffered before us and knows the feeling. No longer alone, we start to go forward with our burden. the burden remains, but the journey continues.