“And Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is too much for me to bear! Surely you have driven me out from the ground this day; I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me'” (Genesis 4:13,14).
All people living in this world have to deal with suffering. it is inevitable. In an environment where sin is a reality, the temporary consequences of sin are inevitable – and since suffering is one of those consequences, we will have to deal with it sooner or later. The only question is how we will do this. It is important that we prevent our sorrow from becoming “the sorrow of the world” (2 Corinthians 7:10). This is the sorrow which selfishly remains immersed in its own sorrow. It does not deal with sin in a godly way.
Two things are needed to keep our sadness from turning into self-pity: Admiration And Thankfulness. When we are going through any bitterness of soul, we must maintain humble respect for the greatness of God as our Creator, and we must never stop thanking Him for all that has gone right despite all that has gone wrong. Even when the sun is shining, we find it challenging to be as respectful and grateful as we should be. However, when darkness surrounds us, it can seem so difficult to keep our minds clear about God that we become discouraged. We succumb to the “sorrows of the world.”
A failure of reverence and gratitude should be seen as a failure of perspective. When pain focuses our attention on some small part of reality, we lose touch with larger truths. However, this is not a trivial matter. If we refuse to accept it whole The truth about God, that denial can destroy our souls (Romans 1:18-21). God is bigger than our suffering, and whatever the immediate cause of our suffering, we cannot afford to miss the clear signs of God’s greatness and goodness in the wider world.
Edmund Spenser wrote of the unhappy man who finds himself “dying every day from the inward wounds of Dolor’s dart.” The suffering of the world is fatal because it indulges in self-justification. It fosters resentment and resistance toward God. Like Cain, the self-pitying soul feels no genuine remorse for evil. He merely moans, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!”
“He pities himself, hopes and groans over himself; he pities himself; even his bowels melt within him to think what he endures; he is not ashamed to weep over himself” (Charles Lamb).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
