Why Sorrow?

Last Sunday's assignment was to be ready to share one moment of sorrow that forever shaped you life. 

It is easy for men to share the grand victories, the great accomplishments, and the stupendous feats of courage.  The history of mankind is full of tall tales and legends born of men recounting a lesser or more mundane feat till it becomes something far removed from the thing it was.  I once read an account of Daniel Boone, in which he said he often lamented the tall-tales told about him.  He said that his life was far more difficult, and far less heroic than the stories made it out to be.  Our heroic moments display our feelings at the instant they were needed, however, it is upon the anvil of sorrow, that men are forged into greater beings than themselves.  It is when we yield to the Master’s well-aimed blows, that the steel that makes us who we are, is folded in upon itself, and forced to become a part of the strength that defines us.  The finest Damascus steel doesn’t shine or reflect the light with a brilliance born of quick forging and hours of polishing.  The dull gray steel belies the hundreds of folds, and hours spent in the furnaces.  When swords crash blade to blade, Damascus steel sings with the song true temper.  Our sorrows do not sharpen us, but they do shape us.  If we allow God to mold us, and help us become obedient to His will, we will enjoy the privilege of being the finest steel He can forge.  Otherwise, we become just so much re-bar. 

For some of us, the moment He sets the hammer to us, we whine and complain against the strikes.  Wasn’t it enough to be fired in the furnace? Must the creator drive us into the anvil of nothingness?  Some of us, were too young to understand the Master’s work, we accept the blows until we’re told we don’t have to accept them.  We become hard, and brittle, shattering at the slightest impact. 

When we discuss and share our sorrows, we find ourselves joining in with a long lineage of Patriarchs who not only felt compelled to reveal their great moments of faith, but also their moments of utter despair and failure. It is how we act in failure, and in victory that defines us.  Both are just as true. 

As our men began to talk this morning, I felt the Holy Spirit warning me not to open the books of sorrow that are written in each one of us.  Instead, we had a wonderful dialogue upon ‘Why’ we have to go through sorrows. 

I’m one of those people who hate ‘Sunday School’ answers.  I despise the religious, pious, answers we make up without any scriptural reason behind them.  We experience sorrow, suffering, and pain, because we are like our God.  Our God suffered before the foundation of the world was laid.  He was betrayed before any of us ever knew the sting of betrayal.  He was crucified before the first human walked upon the face of the earth.  We suffer, so that we may be like him. 

The problem with mankind, is that we view our life upon this vale as being uniquely human, and that God has never felt our pain.  We view Him as an emotionless, abject, being incapable of feeling our deepest sorrows.  “He’s God, all He has to do is say the word, and it could change in an instant.” 

He did change it in an instant.  He spoke us into existence.  In that instant, the lamb was slain, the Son was given, the die was cast.  Why we experience sorrow, is because He wants relationship with us, based on choice, not on programming.  If sorrow is the meat of my humanity, then I know him whom I’ve loved in the fullness of His suffering.  To love me, is to suffer great sorrow.  He was so willing to do so.