God of the Suffering: Guest Meditation, Kristy Burmeister

-Kristy Burmeister-

The Lord looks down from heaven on humans
to see if anyone is wise,
to see if anyone seeks God,
but all of them have turned bad.
Everyone is corrupt.
No one does good--
not even one person!
Are they dumb, all these evildoers,
devouring my people
like they are eating bread
but never calling on the Lord?
Count on it; they will be in utter panic
because God is with the righteous generation.
You evildoers may humiliate
the plans of those who suffer,
but the Lord is their refuge.
​Psalm 14:2-6 CEB

I’ve been having a hard time lately.

I know there will be suffering in this world. I know some of that suffering will be inflicted by people.

What I can’t wrap my head around is how blatantly people are dehumanizing one another, and even rejoicing in the suffering of those who aren’t like them. I expect people who revel in evil to do evil, but these are people who claim to delight in good.

Sometimes it feels like we’re hopeless. We’ll never get past the fear that motivates us to hate other people. This will always be a world where people jump to judge those in need as unworthy instead of jumping to help. I wonder if we can set aside our pride long enough to witness Christ in one another.

Will we ever weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn? Or will we always stay safe in our comfortable, unearned, bubbles?

Over the past couple of years, I’ve had so many moments of despair.

So many times I’ve heard “good Christians” talk about other human beings like they were garbage. Literal, inhuman garbage.

So many moments I’ve seen people quote the Bible to justify evil, and I ask, “Is anyone seeking God?”

Sometimes it does seem like everyone is corrupt. That nobody is wise. Nobody is seeking God. Nobody is doing good. Not even one person!

But it’s not true.

There are people out there doing good. There are people out there risking what they have to help people in need. People who don’t prioritize their comfort above the needs of others. People who value every person’s life, not just their own.

It’s hard to notice them sometimes. They don’t tend to get flashy with it all and draw attention to themselves, so they’re easy to miss.

When I want to know where God is in all of this, these people are my answer. God is with them, working through them.

I know that’s not enough because there aren’t enough of us willing to allow God to work through us like that. We need more people who are seeking God.

And that’s our challenge. Are we wise? Are we seeking God? Or are we seeking to protect what we believe we deserve because we’re afraid of losing it?

Are we people of faith or are we people of fear?

When someone is despairing, asking where God is, and they look at me, what do they see?
The Lord is the refuge of the suffering. If Christ is in is, we’re that refuge too.