Pondering the POE yet again...

I've been reading 1st and 2nd Corinthians...and came upon this verse the other night. 

2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

I know that a "been there, done that" comforter is more apt to truly understand our heartbreak than someone who has led a happy go lucky life. I know too that suffering must surely have a more noble purpose than enabling us to comfort someone else along life's rocky way. If not...thanks anyway, but I think I'll pass.  Actually,  I would like to opt out altogether until I get a little clearer understanding of exactly what the noble purpose is.  And while I'm at it, I would like to opt EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE out of it.  No more suffering for anyone. 

The POE...the biggest why in a whole arsenal of why's in the world of the unbeliever. The biggest "why" in the world of most Christians.  Theodicy.  The big,ugly question mark...the blot on God's reputation. If there is a good God, how come there are children like Hudson? 

 

 

I've come to accept that we...humankind...probably have a big part in and responsibility for the pain and suffering in our own little private world and the world at large.  I also have come to accept that God can bring good out of any situation.  He says so.  I have more questions than answers about the POE but I am not driven to find the answers like a was a few years ago. And in the meantime, let's not let any of our suffering (and insights gleaned during our turmoil) go to waste.  annie often uses the expression...don't waste the pain.  Learn from it, share it, let it enlarge you and pass it on....

Who, then, can so softly bind up the wound of another as he, who has felt the same wound himself? ~~~~  Thomas Jefferson