March 24 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

There is a tremendous amount of suffering in the world. It's everywhere and it reaches everyone. Just thinking about it makes a person suffer more.

There is physical pain and there is mental pain. There is suffering that can be removed, and there is sorrow that is irremovable because it belongs to the lot of humanity. There is suffering we bring on ourselves by error, bad judgment, or transgression, but there are also disasters that cannot be foreseen or prevented.

It seems impossible to sort it all out. One might try to classify the different kinds of sufferings, and yet, somehow, all sorrow seems to be connected by a network of roots underneath the soil of our existence. Humanity is hurting all over. The wounds were there long before we were born.

The Bible reveals a sorrow of which we remain ignorant as long as we are preoccupied with our own suffering and our world's woes. It is the sorrow of God. God's lamentation is at the top of this page: "If my people would only listen to me . . ."

The whole Bible is the story of God seeking and people hiding. God asked, "Adam, where are you?" And Adam hid himself. It is one long story of a Father who looks down the road, day after day. He sighs, "My son, when are you coming home?"

God's sorrow explains our suffering. Deep down, all our pain is because we lost God. Religion—the search for God—is not merely an escape for the weak, as some have said. Not one of us is strong enough to survive if we don't find God. By losing God, we lost our authentic environment.

Our only hope lies in a complete reunion with our God. Our sorrows will all be plucked up by the roots only when heaven and earth are reunited. Then we will have reached the fountain of healing. And God will wipe away all tears.

REFLECTIONS

Have you thought much about the sorrow of God? What causes God's sorrow? How does it explain our own suffering and sorrow?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.