Facing Life’s Sorrows 1

When I was planning this Lent series of daily devotions I never considered how contemporary these thoughts would be and how once more the ancient text would speak to the current situation. Today we embark on a week of contemplating what the Bible has to say about Suffering

The Suffering Servant, is a biblical term found significantly among the prophecies of the Messiah identified by the Old Testament passages of Isaiah 53 known as the Servant songs. Here we find significant texts such as 

He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

And 

He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.

Yet through all this resonance of suffering, the passage gives a sense of hope and fulfilment of the divine will as it concludes with the lines…

After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.

In C. S. Lewis’s well-known story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we find that the evil witch demands the life of young Edmund, who had been revealed as a traitor. She demands exact and unmerciful payment. What he owes her must be paid and paid in full—with nothing less than Edmund’s life.

The great lion Aslan, who is the Christ-figure in the story, comes forward and tells the evil witch he will be willing to suffer and die in place of Edmund. The witch agrees and kills Aslan and celebrates her victory over her archenemy, the lion. However, at the dawn of a new day, Aslan rises from death to life. Aslan explains that although the wicked witch knew the “deep magic,” which demanded the death of one who is a traitor, her knowledge only goes back to the dawn of time. Aslan knew a “deeper magic from before the dawn of time.” That knowledge was that if a willing victim who had committed no treachery offered up his life for the traitor, then death itself would be overturned.

This is a picture of what God has done in the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of the great themes and figures in the Old Testament are brought together and fulfilled through the life and work of the Suffering Servant. Wesley summed up this amazing truth in his hymn “And Can It Be?”

He left his father’s throne above, so free, so infinite his grace,

Emptied himself of all but love, 

and bled for Adam’s helpless race;
’Tis mercy all, immense and free, 

for O my God, it found out me!

’Tis mercy all, the Immortal dies! 

Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries 

to sound the depths of love divine.

’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, 

let angels minds inquire no more!

A Prayer

Heavenly Father, hear our prayers for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.

 

Lord we ask for peace for those who need peace, reconciliation for those who need reconciliation and comfort for all who don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Lord may your Kingdom come, and Your will be done. 

 

Lord God, we ask for you to be with all – especially children who are suffering as the crisis in Ukraine deteriorates. Lord for those who are anxious and fearful. For those who are bereaved, injured or who have lost their lives. And for those who have lost loved ones. Lord hear our prayers.