Y. Khomong Khiamniungan, Tsemhuk Village
I have a faith that this simple message can reach the hearts of those who are in deep trouble water, tired, distress, pain, sorrow, prison, bereaved, orphaned exhausted spiritually and physically as well and would give solace to their wearisome lives and suffering souls. Path of life is irregularity all over. Some time we defeat, sometimes we are defeated, sometimes we kill and sometimes we are killed while we are still alive. The circumstances are not always pleasant. God seems many miles away when we are in trouble and pain. We have a tendency even to mock God’s existence or work. We truly feel God’s rejection and our Cry seems in the wilderness when we are trouble.
To mature spiritually and to strengthen our faith in God, He sometimes tests us by period of seeming separation. There is a time when we feel as if he has abandoned and forgotten us. God feels million miles away from our broken heart. St. John of the Cross referred to these days as “Dark night of the soul”. Henry Nouwen said “The Ministry of absence”. A.W. Tozer called them as “The ministry of the night” and many others refer to such interim period as “The winter or the heart”. God’s dictionary tells us that we are in his ministry and not in which we call as trouble. Of course, God has not promised us as “you always feel my presence”. But he admits that sometime He hides his face from us. His ultimate assurance is but “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. When Israelites were asked by their captors to sing a Zion Song while they were on the river bank of Babylon, they said, “How can we sing the Lord’s Song while in a foreign land,” (Psalms 137:4) and they cried when they remembered Zion. Indeed, the heart of suffering and trouble is filled with complaints and tears and no place to worship or thank God. However, this truth must he realized that “God refines me.”
Besides Jesus, king David had the closest friend with God, God even took pleasure in calling him” A man after his own heart” yet we can see many bitterness, seeming separation and complaint that David came across during his lifetime. David said “I.ord, why are You standing aloof and far away? Why do You hide when I need You the most? Why have You forsaken me? Why do You remain so distanct? Why do You ignore my cry for help? God gave times to ask all these questions not because He is worst but to let Him seek more and to let His people realize how a person suffers even when He is absent for a while?
Job, the man of God, the outstanding figure in Christian faith and the man of integrity and uprightness. On a single day, he lost everything that he owned, his family, his health and his business. But Job did this when he said, “I can’t be quiet! I am angry and bitter. I have to speak!” And he cried out with courageous voice when God seemed miles away from him. He lamented and said “I go east but He is not there. I go west but I cannot find Him. I do not see in the north for He is hidden. I turn to south, but I cannot find Him. But he knows where I am going. And he tested me like gold in a fire.” When God seems distant or simply turn His face from us, we feel His wrath or we feel His rejection when God is still close to us.
There are times when we feel God’s absence and he appears to be missing in action in our lives. MC Clung described it: “you wake up one morning and all your spiritual feelings are gone. You pray but nothing happens. You rebuke the devils but it does not change anything. You go through spiritual exercises; you have your friends pray for you; you confess every sin you can imagine, then go around asking forgiveness from everyone you know; you fast; still nothing. You begin to wonder how long this spiritual gloom might last. Yes, no doubt, but what we need to realize is when we want to be a happy person, these things come first in our lives. And the thing which we are looking for is just behind that.
“When we arc getting everything that we like and could do whatever we want to, without any checkmate or obstacle we must remember that something is going wrong and God’s guiding hand is withdrawn, freed in the wilderness.” But any kind of trouble that comes in our way is a messenger from God. It is a sign that we are not forgotten. John, the apostle wrote the book of Revelation not when the time was pleasure. But God revealed to him when he was in prison in Patmos Island. William Wordsworth wrote His majestic poems not in time of joy or sitting comfortably, but in times when he did not get to sleep. Good and the great things are the outshoot of what we call as trouble and suffering.
When God seems to be far away and we are stuck at where we don’t want to be, then time is ripe to do something great! We need not bend but find something good which is in it. It matters not only for we are against His Will yet God wants us to be something different. In John 14:1 God assures us to not “let your heart be troubled.” So, don’t be troubled by trouble but let us seek Him sincerely and He wants us most to come closer. One cannot create opportunity of such kind unless God takes His own course of time. So, those people who are in trouble must not understand as mere suffering but this is the right time to look up above the sun to God and to say, “I am here Lord.”
The Truth behind our struggle is, it comes in one’s life even when we are not wrong. This is a normal part of testing and maturing our faith in God. As a believer, we must go through it at least once. Untrained soldier can not fight actively and never be a skilful fighter. As a human being, of course, it is painful and disconcerting to go through such flame but should be couraged that it is not for ever. Unless we arc served by such refining fire, we can not deal with different kinds of people and we can not understand the true meaning of life. When we are in trouble and God seems to be miles away, we need to remember that “God wants me to useful for many and He doesn’t want me to end up just as myself.” Don’t miss this opportunity and don’t let this time go out of hand without finding the good thing that is in it! Because God has given you this time to write down the book of Life.
Let me conclude with the word of Fran Lebowitz. He truly pointed out that “Life is something that happens when you can’t get to sleep.”
