Suffering is hard. I think that goes without saying. And it poses hard questions that don't always have satisfying answers - or answers we aren't always ready for.
It's a great mystery of faith - rather like (and really, part of) the providence of God.
How hard would it have been for the widow to whom Elijah is speaking in this passage from 1 Kings to trust in the prophet's words - to trust in God's promise that the flour would not go empty, nor the oil run dry? She was in dire straits: running out of flour and oil, in a land stricken by drought - a widow with a son, running out of resources. She knew that she and her child would both die soon without more provisions. I can only imagine what she thought when this strange man Elijah arrived, asking her for food, and basically telling her everything would be okay. The depth of her reaction is not captured in the reading, but I'm sure she had to make a leap of faith to trust in his words. I know it would've taken a leap of faith for me.
She had suffered many miseries, knowing she was alone, with no one to provide for her and her son. Maybe she even asked, "Why?" -- wondering why such misfortune had befallen her - and had received no answer, while the flour in her jar dwindled.
When was the last time you asked, "Why?" - with regard to a difficult situation you've experienced in your family, or among your friends, or maybe at work or school. Perhaps you've asked that question, not about suffering in your own life, but about the suffering encountered by a parent, sibling, or friend. It's often much harder to watch loved ones suffer, than it is for us to endure our own suffering.
How often have we suffered, or watched loved ones suffer, and prayed and cried and begged God to send rain upon the earth - peace, healing, love, whatever was needed?
Sometimes, there are no satisfying answers to that question, "Why?" - that's certainly no reason not to ask the question - it's a question that arises naturally out of these things, and when we need to ask it, we should. But perhaps answering that question isn't always the point. Kind of like the way that, in so many journeys in life, the journey isn't about where we arrive so much as it is about the "getting there," the journey itself. It's the walk. It's what we learn about ourselves, about others, about God - and yes, certainly about the sufferings of Christ - in the midst of our trials.
Maybe, too, it's about learning to recognize that God always does "send rain upon the earth," though not always in the way, or at the time, we think it will (or should) happen.
+Peace and good.
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