Nimeandika riwaya tisa. Tuseme unaweza kuwahoji wahusika wa vitabu vyangu. Ikiwa ungewauliza, “Je, ungependa mateso yako yapunguzwe?” Nina hakika wengejibu, “Ndio!”
Huwa naelewa hisia za wahusika wangu. Lakini kama mwandhishi, najua kwamba mwishowe mateso yao yote yatakuwa na faida, kwa kuwa mateso yao ni muhimu katika ukuaji wao, na katika simulizi ya ukombozi.
Mungu amejumuisha kila mmoja wetu katika simulizi yake. Sisi ni sehemu ya kitu kikuu zaidi kuliko sisi wenyewe. Mungu anatuita tumtumainie kuunganisha simulizi hiyo pamoja, ili tutakapofikia mwisho ambao hautaisha, tutamwabudu, tukiwa vinywa wazi kwa mshangao kwa sababu ya ustadi wake mkubwa katika kuunganisha pamoja sehemu mbalimbali za simulizi yake.
Maumivu Yasiyo na Maana?
Lakini kama wahusika wangu wa kubuni, ambao hawajui mikakati yangu, tunakosa mtazamo wa kuona jinsi sehemu za maisha yetu zinavyolingana na mpango wa jumla wa Mungu. Saratani, ulemavu, ajali, na hasara nyinginezo na huzuni huonekana kuwa hazina maana kabisa. Hata hivyo, kwa sababu hatuoni maana yoyote ya kuteseka, hiyo haithibitishi kuwa mateso hayana maana.
Joni Eareckson Tada anasherehekea mwaka wake wa hamsini wa kutumia kiti cha magurudumu. Je, kusherehekea linaonekana kuwa si neno sahihi kutumia tukizingatia hali yake? Hakika linaonekana si neno sahihi kutumia ikizingatiwa kuwa Joni akiwa na umri wa miaka 17 alitamani sana kujitoa uhai. Lakini tukitazama nyuma, tunaona jinsi alivyoimarika katika tabia na maisha ya watu wengi—ikiwemo familia yangu—ambayo Mungu amegusa kupitia Joni. Maandiko yanatufundisha kwamba tukiwa mikononi mwa Mungu mkuu mwenye upendo, hakuna mateso yanayotukabili ambayo hayana kusudi, haijalishi yanaonekanaje wakati tunayapitia.
Je, ni mara ngapi Mungu ana kusudi katika matukio ambayo yanaonekana hayana maana yanapotokea?
Mambo Yote ni kwa Manufaa Yetu ya Milele.
Warum 8:28 ni mojawapo ya kauli za kuvutia zaidi katika Maandiko: “Nasi tunajua ya kuwa katika mambo yote Mungu hutenda kazi pamoja na wote wampendao, katika kuwapatia mema, yaani, wale walioitwa kwa kusudi lake.” Muktadha unaonyesha kwamba katika ulimwengu unaougua, haja ya Mungu ni kuwafanya watoto wake wafanane na Kristo. Na anafanya kazi kupitia hali ngumu za maisha yetu ili kukuza kufanana kwetu na Kristo.
Katika Warumi 8:28 ya Agano la Kale, Yusufu aliwaambia nduguze (ambao walikuwa wamemuuza utumwani), “Nanyi kweli mlinikusudia mabaya, bali Mungu aliyakusudia kuwa mema, ili itokee kuokoa taifa kubwa, kama ilivyo” (Mwanzo 50:20)
“Mungu aliyakusudia kuwa mema” inaonyesha kwamba Mungu hakufanya tu hali mbaya iwe bora; badala yake, akifahamu kabisa kile ambacho ndugu za Yusufu wangefanya, na kuruhusu dhambi yao, Mungu alikusudia hali hiyo mbaya itumike kwa manufaa. Alifanya hivyo kulingana na mpango wake tangu umilele uliopita. Watoto wa Mungu “walichagukiwa sawasawa na kusudi la Mungu yeye ambaye hufanya mambo yote kulingana na kusudi la mapenzi yake” (Waefeso 1:11).
Hakuna chochote kuhusu kazi ya Mungu katika maisha ya Yusufu kinachoonyesha kwamba anafanya kazi kwa njia tofauti katika maisha ya watoto wake wengine. Hakika Warumi 8:28 na Waefeso 1:11 zinasisitiza kwamba anafanya kazi nasi kwa njia sawa.
Je, unaamini ahadi ya Warumi 8:28? Tambua mambo mabaya zaidi ambayo yamewahi kukupata kisha jiulize ikiwa unamtumainia Mungu kutumia mambo hayo kwa manufaa yako. Biblia inasisitiza kwamba atafanya hivyo.
Zawadi ya Tumaini Letu
Tukifikiria kwa upumbavu kwamba Baba yetu hana haki ya sisi kumtumainia isipokuwa afanye hekima yake isiyo na kikomo ieleweke kikamilifu, tunasababisha hali isiyowezekana—si kwa sababu ya mapungufu yake, bali kwa sababu ya mapungufu yetu (soma Isaya 55:8-9)
Mara chache, kama vile Yusufu hatimaye alijionea, Mungu hutuonyesha sababu ya matendo yake. Wakati fulani uliopita, rafiki yangu mmoja alipata ajali mbaya sana na akapitia maumivu mengi alipokuwa akipata afueni. Lakini hali hiyo iliokoa maisha yake. Uchunguzi wa kimatibabu ulionyesha kwamba alikuwa na hali isiyohusiana na ajali hiyo ambayo ilihitaji uangalizi wa haraka.
Katika hali kama hiyo, sababu ya ajali hiyo ilijitokeza wazi. Katika hali nyingine, hatujui sababu. Lakini tukizingatia kwamba kuna mambo mengi sana tusiyoyajua, kwa nini tunachukulia kwamba kwa vile hatujui sababu, hiyo inamaanisha kwamba hakuna sababu? Ni Mungu pekee ndiye ana uwezo wa kubaini ni hali gani ina maana na ni hali gani haina maana. (Je, si kifo cha uchungu mwingi cha Yesu kilionekana kuwa cha bure na kisicho na maana wakati kilipotokea?)
Kionjo cha Awali cha Furaha ya Milele
Kama Yusufu angepewa nafasi ya kuchagua alipokuwa akikabiliwa na majaribu yake, nina uhakika angejiondoa kutoka kwenye simulizi ya Mungu. Katikati ya simulizi ya Ayubu— watoto kumi wakiwa wamekufa, mwili wake umejaa majipu, alionekana ameachwa na Mungu —muulize ikiwa angetaka kujiondoa. Ninajua jibu lake kwa sababu katika Ayubu 3:11 alisema, “Kwa nini sikuangamia wakati wa kuzaliwa?”
Lakini haya yote yamekwisha sasa. Katika dunia mpya inayokuja, keti karibu na Ayubu, Yusufu na Yesu kwenye karamu ya kifahari. Waulize, “Je, yote mliyopitia yalikuwa na manufaa?”
“Ndio, kabisa,” Ayubu anasema. Yusufu anasema ndio kwa kutikisa kichwa chake kwa shauku. Hakuna haja ya kujiuliza jinsi Yesu atakavyojibu.
Siku moja sisi pia tutaona katika muktadha mpana, kwa mtazamo wa milele, rehema kali za Mungu, ambazo baadhi yao hatukuzielewa, na nyingine tulizichukia. Tutashangaa kwa nini tuliomba ili tufanane zaidi na Yesu lakini tukamwomba Mungu aondoe kile alichotuma kujibu maombi hayo.
“Kwa hiyo, hatukati tamaa… Kwa maana dhiki yetu nyepesi iliyo ya kitambo inatutayarisha kwa ajili ya utukufu wa milele unaozidi kuwa mwingi kupita kiasi, kwa sababu hatuangalii yale yanayoweza kuonekana bali yale yasiyoweza kuonekana. Kwa maana yale yanayoweza kuonekana ni ya kitambo tu, bali yale yasiyoweza kuonekana ni ya milele” (2 Wakorintho 4:16-18).
Imani ni kuamini leo kile ambacho siku moja, kwa kutazama nyuma, tutaona kuwa kilikuwa kweli wakati wote.
Tusisubiri hadi dakika tano baada ya kufa kuamini kwamba Mungu daima yuko sahihi. Hebu tujifunze kufanya hivyo hapa na sasa, macho yetu yakiwa yanamtazama Mkombozi wetu mwenye neema, mwenye enzi kuu na mwenye kusudi daima.
Trusting God When the Pain Seems Pointless
I’ve written nine novels. Suppose you could interview characters from my books. If you asked them, “Would you like to suffer less?” I’m sure they’d answer, “Yes!”
I empathize with my characters. But as the author, I know that in the end all their suffering will be worth it, since it’s critical to their growth, and to the redemptive story.
God has written each of us into His story. We are part of something far greater than ourselves. God calls upon us to trust Him to weave that story together, so that, in the end that will never end, we will worship Him, slack-jawed at the sheer genius of His interwoven plot lines.
Pointless Pain?
But like my fictional characters, who are clueless to my strategies, we lack the perspective to see how parts of our lives fit into God’s overall plan. Cancer, disabilities, accidents, and other losses and sorrows appear devastatingly pointless. However, just because we don’t see any point in suffering doesn’t prove there is no point.
Joni Eareckson Tada is celebrating her fiftieth year in a wheelchair. Does celebrating seem the wrong word? It certainly would have to Joni as a 17-year-old desperately wanting to end her life. Yet looking back, we see her exponential character growth and the countless lives — my family’s included — God has touched through Joni. Scripture teaches us that in our sovereign God’s loving hands, no suffering we face is ever purposeless, no matter how it seems at the moment.
How many times does God have a purpose in events that seem senseless when they happen?
All Things for Our Eternal Good
Romans 8:28 is one of the most arresting statements in Scripture: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” The context shows that in a groaning, heaving world, God’s concern is conforming His children to Christ’s image. And He works through the challenging circumstances of our lives to develop our Christlikeness.
In the Romans 8:28 of the Old Testament, Joseph said to his brothers (who’d sold him into slavery), “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive” (Genesis 50:20).
“God meant it for good” indicates God didn’t merely make the best of a bad situation; rather, fully aware of what Joseph’s brothers would do, and freely permitting their sin, God intended that the bad situation be used for good. He did so in accordance with His plan from eternity past. God’s children have “been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).
Nothing about God’s work in Joseph’s life suggests He works any differently in the lives of His other children. In fact, Romans 8:28 and Ephesians 1:11 are emphatic that He works the same way with us.
Do you believe the promise of Romans 8:28? Identify the worst things that have happened to you, and then ask yourself if you trust God to use those things for your good. The Bible asserts that He will.
The Gift of Our Trust
If we foolishly assume that our Father has no right to our trust unless He makes His infinite wisdom completely understandable, we create an impossible situation — not because of His limitations, because of ours (see Isaiah 55:8–9).
Occasionally, like Joseph eventually experienced, God gives us glimpses of His rationale. Some time ago, a friend of mine endured a serious accident and a painful recovery. But it saved his life. Medical tests revealed an unrelated condition that needed immediate attention.
In that case, a compelling reason for the accident became clear. In other cases, we don’t know the reasons. But given all that we don’t know, why do we assume our ignorance of the reasons means there are no reasons? Only God is in the position to determine what is and isn’t pointless. (Didn’t the excruciating death of Jesus appear both gratuitous and pointless at the time?)
A Head Start on Eternal Joy
Given the option while facing his trials, I’m confident Joseph would have walked off the stage of God’s story. In the middle of Job’s story — with ten children dead, his body covered in boils, apparently abandoned by God — ask him if he wants out. I know his answer because in Job 3:11 he said, “Why did I not perish at birth?”
But that’s all over now. On the coming New Earth, sit by Job and Joseph and Jesus at a lavish banquet. Ask them, “Was it really worth it?”
“Absolutely,” Job says. Joseph nods emphatically. No need to wonder how Jesus will respond.
One day, we too will see in their larger context, with an eternal perspective, God’s severe mercies, some of which we never understood, and others we resented. We’ll wonder why we prayed to be more like Jesus but then begged God to remove what He sent to answer those prayers.
“Therefore we do not give up. . . . For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, CSB).
Faith is believing today what one day, in retrospect, we will see to have been true all along.
Let’s not wait until five minutes after we die to trust that God always has a point. Let’s learn to do it here and now, eyes locked on our gracious, sovereign, and ever-purposeful Redeemer.
Photo: Unsplash
