Suffering is bitter.
Pain is a raging torrent.
Illnesses are blistering winds.
However, suffering (no matter the kind) does not suggest defeat for strugglers called to the eternal glory of Christ. Advent, thus, brings a message of peace to the hearts of sufferers because the God of all grace is sure to come to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish all strugglers called to Him.
But what are we to do in the midst of suffering?
Are we to merely wait in silence and pretense?
The following quote from "Weeding Impatience" speaks to that effect:
"The bitterness of patience may be rightly known as life's greatest and most tumultuous torrent. However, suffering should not suggest defeat. With God on our side, we should make the decision to be victorious over our problems. Defeat has no place in our vocabulary despite what circumstances may suggest. Human wisdom may tell us that we are doomed but spiritual insight gives us the courage and determination to adjust our attitude.
In seasons of suffering, our hearts well up with impatience and discontent not unlike the Israelites who craved intensely for the delicacies of Egypt while in the wilderness. Like Israel, we desire what seems to be the current panacea, the latest cure-all, and fail to recognize that past circumstances often had more problems in them than the delicacies could counteract. In Numbers 11:20, God's Word indicates that His people responded to their suffering with much grumbling. God did not take that response lightly and they died a horrible death.
We find in Christ a model for the godly response to suffering. He endured more than any other human being could ever imagine. Although our Savior had the power to stop it all (the mockery of fools, the flogging of soldiers, the sting of vinegar, the piercing of swords, the bruising of thorns, and the spilling of blood), He chose to endure intense suffering in order to redeems the world."
This redemptions is at the heart of Christ's Advent. Each time He comes to us, redemption enters the scene. Each time we welcome Him, healing accompanies Him. His redemption and healing may not always have a physical/emotional/intellectual manifestation (as far as we can see, feel, or understand) but nonetheless contain the spiritual essence of God's eternal glory.
O come, Lord Jesus!
O come, redeeming Immanuel!
O come, suffering Servant and heal Your people!
O come, touch us and reign over us forever and ever!
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