What do you do when the infant you’re caring for is tremoring from the heroin his body was born addicted to? When your loved one’s illness is terminal? When the report you filed against neglect and abuse seems unlikely to change a thing for those precious children? When you look around and see that everything is tainted by suffering? 

 I’ll never forget the first baby I had both fed and burped– a tiny seven-week-old boy. Still weak and shaky from the drugs in his system, he was figuring out this whole life thing. We shared something in common: we were both learning what to do. I was learning to give him a bottle, and he was learning to feed. Looking into his brown eyes, his head resting peacefully on the inside of my arm, he drank his formula. I was filled with many emotions: I marveled at his resilience, but I was crushed that all he had known was pain. I couldn’t help but think, “This isn’t right.” And it’s not. Brokenness and sin affect even the most innocent.

 So, what can we do?

We may numb ourselves to the hurt we both see and feel, only to end up worse off. Some may try to look on the brighter side, but it doesn’t make the darkness disappear. We may be ignorant to the sufferings of others, but our ignorance isn’t bliss to those who are hurting. I have found that there is no escape within ourselves from this present darkness. Everything is tainted by darkness. And in the face of such sorrow, it’s easy to fall into despair. The sufferings we see can feel too vast to address, too deep to mend. But I have come to believe that we are not hopeless. I have found in my wrestling with the living God that there is hope. 

In the midst of all this, there is hope.

First, we must recognise that these issues are the result of a broken and fallen world, not a lack in the goodness of God. We see in Genesis that God created our earth “very good” (Genesis 1:31) but when sin enters through the rejection of God’s good rule, the harmony of creation is shattered. This brokenness affects everything we see—our relationship with our Creator, our relationships with each other, our bodies, our world. This is why, from the crib to the grave, there is suffering. 

The good news, however, is that God has not left us here without hope. His goodness and mercy are following after us. Although sin’s impact is real and harsh, God’s plan for redemption is greater. Through Jesus, we see God entering into our humanity. Feeling the brutality of sin, yet remained without sin. Our savior was a sufferer, acquainted with grief, a man of sorrows. Isaiah 53 reads, 

“Who has believed our message?

    To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?

2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,

    like a root in dry ground.

There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,

    nothing to attract us to him.

3 He was despised and rejected—

    a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.

We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.

    He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;

    It was our sorrows that weighed him down.

And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,

    a punishment for his own sins!

5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,

    crushed for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole.

    He was whipped so we could be healed.

6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.

    We have left God’s paths to follow our own.

Yet the Lord laid on him

    the sins of us all.

7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,

    yet he never said a word.

He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

    And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,

    He did not open his mouth.

8 Unjustly condemned,

    He was led away.

No one cared that he died without descendants,

    that his life was cut short in midstream.

But he was struck down

    for the rebellion of my people.

9 He had done no wrong

    and had never deceived anyone.

But he was buried like a criminal;

    He was put in a rich man’s grave.

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him

    and cause him grief.

Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,

    He will have many descendants.

He will enjoy a long life,

    and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.

11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,

    he will be satisfied.

And because of his experience,

    my righteous servant will make it possible

for many to be counted righteous,

    for he will bear all their sins.

12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,

    because he exposed himself to death.

He was counted among the rebels.

    He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.” (Isaiah 53, NLT)

In these powerful words, we see that Jesus, God in the flesh, entered into our suffering. He took our punishment on the cross, that we may find freedom, that we may have life, that we may have Him. He lived the life we do not live, died the death that we deserve, and rose again defeating death, making it possible that we may be made whole. We do not have a savior who is unaware of our suffering. We do not have a savior who sits and observes our suffering. We have a savior who has experienced it all, and who will walk with us in it. Even the most innocent has been affected by the sin and brokenness of this earth. But it was His suffering that has bought us freedom. The invitation for freedom rings out in Isaiah 55, 

“Come, everyone who thirsts,

    come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

    come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without price.

2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

    and delight yourselves in rich food.

3 Incline your ear, and come to me;

    hear, that your soul may live.”

 To each one of us who is hungry, thirsty, and without the means to be satisfied, He offers bread, wine, and milk without price. He offers salvation through faith and trust that His sacrifice is enough. That He is enough. Come. Do not wait. While He is near, eat and be satisfied and drink what is good. Do not waste your time laboring over that which does not satisfy. Seek God while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55). Come. Find rest for your soul. (Matthew 11:30)

In the midst of all the pain and suffering we face today, we can take comfort in knowing that, as Paul writes in Romans 8:18, “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed to us.” Our present struggles, no matter how overwhelming, are temporary in light of the eternal hope we have in Christ. Right now, we have a savior who will be with us and sympathize with our suffering. And in the end, Christ will make all things new. We will experience a glory that is immeasurably marvelous and experience true life. Life as it should be. Life without darkness. Life everlasting. 

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