Suffering does not originate with God.
In fact, in the world He created, it did not exist. In the beginning, there was nothing but perfect joy, fulfillment, and unity with God--Life and Love Himself!--and with each other.
But then, a lie was spoken into this perfect world.
"Did God really say?"
With that one sentence came an avalanche of doubt. "God is withholding from you! He is not good! He can't be trusted! Take for yourself the happiness that He refuses to give you."
On that tragic day, humanity fell to the lie. On that day, Adam and Eve chose to walk away from God. On that day, they walked away from life and light and love, and hid themselves in shame.
The consequence? Selfishness, suffering, and death.
And yet, from the very beginning, God made a promise: though they had abandoned Him, He would not abandon them.
In fact, He would become one of them.
God, the all-powerful, omnipotent, holy and great I AM, would become a man. A man, completely like us in every way but sin. A man, capable of experiencing the full force of the consequences of our rejection of Him. A man, who never once sinned, but who voluntarily took on Himself the sin of the whole world.
Every sin of all time--every rejection of God--God took on Himself. He suffered, and He suffered to the death, bearing not only our sin but also all of its consequences.
And then... He rose. And in doing so, He proved His victory not only over suffering and death, but also over sin, their cause. Sending His disciples out before His ascension, He commanded them to preach this good news and to heal the sick and raise the dead, both as signs of His power over sin, sickness, and death here and now, and to point people to the culmination of our redemption: the resurrection of our bodies and eternal life forever with Him in heaven.
Redemption will always have the final word. And yet, in this fallen world, we still see places where we are awaiting the fullness of that redemption. In this fallen world, we still witness and experience sin, suffering, and death. And in this fallen world, we and all of creation still groan as we watch and wait in hope for the completion of what Christ has already begun; the full working out of what He has already won.
It is at these moments, times of deep confusion and pain, that the original lies of the garden often surface once again.
"Is God against me? Am I disposable to Him? Is the devil just hopelessly more powerful than He is?"
These are the questions that are brought up and wrestled with in the book of Job. These are the questions that can only be answered as they were for Job: not by hearing an argument, but rather by seeing the Lord. And in the miracle of His love, God has become incarnate so that we can see Him.
When we wonder if God is against us, then, the Cross replies, without a doubt, that He is for us. When we wonder if He sees us, the Cross responds that He has deemed us worth His everything. And when we wonder if, perhaps, the enemy has or will ever overcome, we have only to look again at the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ to see that even when He handed Himself fully over to be tortured and killed by Satan’s best attempts, God could not be bound by the devil, nor by our sin, nor by death. Rather, in His great love and perfect omnipotence, He transformed the consequence of our sin into the very means by which we may be saved from it.
Suffering does not originate with God. It originated with us; with our selfishness and sin, with our grasping and our disbelief. But God is so good that He is capable not only of ridding us of all pain, but also of redeeming our pain in the moments we find ourselves still in the waiting. Because He has willingly shared in our sufferings, they get to become for us nothing less than a share in His. Because He has borne everything for us, He has opened the door for every trial, in addition to every joy, to become an opportunity for us to draw nearer and nearer to Him, and to lay down our lives for Him as He has laid down His life for us. In so doing, even in the waiting and even through the tears, we will find a steady abundance of unshakable life, joy, and peace.
But then, a lie was spoken into this perfect world.
"Did God really say?"
With that one sentence came an avalanche of doubt. "God is withholding from you! He is not good! He can't be trusted! Take for yourself the happiness that He refuses to give you."
On that tragic day, humanity fell to the lie. On that day, Adam and Eve chose to walk away from God. On that day, they walked away from life and light and love, and hid themselves in shame.
The consequence? Selfishness, suffering, and death.
And yet, from the very beginning, God made a promise: though they had abandoned Him, He would not abandon them.
In fact, He would become one of them.
God, the all-powerful, omnipotent, holy and great I AM, would become a man. A man, completely like us in every way but sin. A man, capable of experiencing the full force of the consequences of our rejection of Him. A man, who never once sinned, but who voluntarily took on Himself the sin of the whole world.
Every sin of all time--every rejection of God--God took on Himself. He suffered, and He suffered to the death, bearing not only our sin but also all of its consequences.
And then... He rose. And in doing so, He proved His victory not only over suffering and death, but also over sin, their cause. Sending His disciples out before His ascension, He commanded them to preach this good news and to heal the sick and raise the dead, both as signs of His power over sin, sickness, and death here and now, and to point people to the culmination of our redemption: the resurrection of our bodies and eternal life forever with Him in heaven.
Redemption will always have the final word. And yet, in this fallen world, we still see places where we are awaiting the fullness of that redemption. In this fallen world, we still witness and experience sin, suffering, and death. And in this fallen world, we and all of creation still groan as we watch and wait in hope for the completion of what Christ has already begun; the full working out of what He has already won.
It is at these moments, times of deep confusion and pain, that the original lies of the garden often surface once again.
"Is God against me? Am I disposable to Him? Is the devil just hopelessly more powerful than He is?"
These are the questions that are brought up and wrestled with in the book of Job. These are the questions that can only be answered as they were for Job: not by hearing an argument, but rather by seeing the Lord. And in the miracle of His love, God has become incarnate so that we can see Him.
When we wonder if God is against us, then, the Cross replies, without a doubt, that He is for us. When we wonder if He sees us, the Cross responds that He has deemed us worth His everything. And when we wonder if, perhaps, the enemy has or will ever overcome, we have only to look again at the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ to see that even when He handed Himself fully over to be tortured and killed by Satan’s best attempts, God could not be bound by the devil, nor by our sin, nor by death. Rather, in His great love and perfect omnipotence, He transformed the consequence of our sin into the very means by which we may be saved from it.
Suffering does not originate with God. It originated with us; with our selfishness and sin, with our grasping and our disbelief. But God is so good that He is capable not only of ridding us of all pain, but also of redeeming our pain in the moments we find ourselves still in the waiting. Because He has willingly shared in our sufferings, they get to become for us nothing less than a share in His. Because He has borne everything for us, He has opened the door for every trial, in addition to every joy, to become an opportunity for us to draw nearer and nearer to Him, and to lay down our lives for Him as He has laid down His life for us. In so doing, even in the waiting and even through the tears, we will find a steady abundance of unshakable life, joy, and peace.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 8:35-38
"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
- Romans 5:3-5
- Romans 8:35-38
"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
- Romans 5:3-5
Date: Saturday, April 26, 2025
Time: 4 pm
Location: Saline High School Auditorium
1300 Campus Pkwy, Saline, MI 48176
Time: 4 pm
Location: Saline High School Auditorium
1300 Campus Pkwy, Saline, MI 48176
Ticket Donations
This year, we have the privilege of sponsoring Protect Life Michigan with the ticket donations from the recital. 50% of all donations will be given to this organization that aims to expose the realities of abortion and equip college students to have authentic and winsome conversations about it with those they come in contact with, in a spirit of love, respect, and truth.
Ticket donations may be made at the door, and we are asking $10 a ticket:
- His Feet Dance: $5
- PLM: $5
Children 4 and under go free.
For more information about Protect Life Michigan, click here.
Ticket donations may be made at the door, and we are asking $10 a ticket:
- His Feet Dance: $5
- PLM: $5
Children 4 and under go free.
For more information about Protect Life Michigan, click here.
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