Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, June 18, 2020
by R. Fergus Moir, Clergy Stuff
It’s easy to love God when everything is going well. Whether or not we admit to believing God rewards goodness and punishes evil, we tend to be quite self-congratulatory when our lives are flowing along smoothly. Then when things go wrong, we shake our fists at God and growl, “What did I ever do to you?!?” Those of us living in privilege, like me, have a very difficult time accepting suffering of any kind. We avoid it like the plague. And that does us and those around us a disservice.
I remember lamenting to a dear friend about the challenges my special needs kids were experiencing, and how hard it was for me to see them suffer. I uttered the common parental refrain, “I just want them to be happy.” My friend, in her wisdom, paraphrased a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh, which says basically, “I would never shield my children from suffering, for it is only through suffering that we learn compassion.”
Jesus did not shy away from suffering, but reached out to all who experienced it with love and compassion. When we avoid pain at all costs, the largest cost is that we lose the ability to have compassion for others. Or as Job puts it, “Those at ease have contempt for misfortune.” God calls us to live in community with our neighbor, to share in her suffering, to share our own suffering. Turning away from suffering is turning away from God’s call.
Gracious God, open my eyes to the suffering of all those around me, that I might have compassion. Amen.
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