Suffering puts us in a precarious position. It is bad enough to suffer. But then, if we are not careful, suffering can lead us into sin. Suffering can cause us to doubt the character and goodness of God. A good example of this can be seen in the life of John the Baptist. At some point in his life and ministry, he was put in prison. This is often what happens when you tell King Herod that he can’t marry his half-brother’s wife, which is what John did! Herod put John in prison, and while he was there, he began to wonder if it was all worth it. (Some time later, Herod would have John beheaded. At his own birthday party, Herod promised “to give her whatever she might ask” in response to the dancing of his stepdaughter. By the suggestion of her mom, she wanted the head of John the Baptist on a platter, and Herod complied.) He sends some of his own disciples to Jesus. “I’ve heard about some of the things that you have done. Are you the one that we have been waiting for, or should we keep looking?” Jesus assured John that he was most certainly the long-awaited Messiah. But John wondered. He had been in prison for some time (and he would eventually die in that prison).
John probably thought something like this. “I have preached and prophesied, but I really have not seen much change. Here I sit in a Roman prison. God, you gave me the task of preaching repentance and calling people to task for their godless lives. It hasn’t been easy. I have been poor all my life, could only afford the cheapest of clothes, and had to live in the desert and eat bugs—locusts. I know that I didn’t say things that made people happy, but you charged me to call people to repentance, to confess their sins, and to call out the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and self-righteousness, and I did it. I never got the acclaim that other prophets and teachers did. And now I sit here in prison. I’ll never get married. I’ll never have children. I’ll never make any sort of impact. I’ll probably die here. God, what have you done? I tried to honor you. I tried to do what you told me to do. I did my best. And yet I sit here in prison, and I don’t have any reason to believe that I’ll ever get out. I mean, you don’t insult the king and expect to live. God, I’m not sure that it has been worth it. I was expecting Jesus to be a deliverer, a King who would come rescue us from this spiritual and political oppression. But that hasn’t happened, and I’m not sure that it will.”
And, weirdly enough, Jesus didn’t really rescue John from his discouragement. He told John’s disciples, “I’ve healed the sick and raised the dead and preached the good news to the poor. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” What did Jesus mean by the last statement, “blessed is the one who is not offended by me”? Basically, what he was saying was this. “John, I’ve healed people and preached the gospel, and if that is not good enough for you, I’m sorry. But that’s all I’ve got. That’s what I came to do, and I’m sorry if that offends you.”
Sometimes Jesus tells us, “I’m sorry if the life I’ve given you is not what you expected, but that’s all I’ve got. I didn’t come to give you a happy life, and I’m sorry if that offends you.” Ouch! So, if Jesus didn’t come to give us a happy life, then why did he come? He came to give us himself, and to rescue us from everything that would take us away from finding our deepest joys in him. We want to feel sorry for John; I mean, he was in prison for preaching the gospel. But Jesus didn’t. Now he certainly paid him the highest of compliments (see Mt. 11:11), but he didn’t hesitate challenging John’s demands.
What do we do when what we get from God is not what we want, and especially when what we want seems right and good and legitimate? There are usually three choices. We can run to some other smaller pleasure: work, food, relationships, toys, distractions. We can just buck up, do the right thing, work hard, and do our best. Or we can take our disappointments and discouragements to God. He may not take them away. In fact, it is usually in the middle of our disappointments and discouragements that we find God and see him the clearest. When our surface desires are not met, it gives an opportunity for our deeper desires to come forth. As a Christian our deeper desires are for a vision of God, an experience of him that goes beyond simply providing for our preferences. Our deeper desires are for something firm, something eternal, something that satisfies even in the face of deep disappointment. It is through the brokenness of unmet desires that we truly find God, in all of his mystery and depth. This is how David could write psalms while running for life, how Paul could sing in the jail, and how so many saints, both dead and alive, could speak of discovering more of God during times of suffering and dashed dreams than during times of pleasant circumstances.
This is what I want, folks. I don’t want a happiness that depends on getting what I want. I want a joy that comes from experiencing all of who God is, even if it means suffering to get there.