Life Sucks, and Then You Die … Really?

I once saw a bumper sticker which read, “Life sucks, and
then you die!” How would you answer the occupant of that car?

Millions feel this way in view of the suffering and evil they have experienced in this world. I have been tempted by this sentiment myself in the past.

I have a new friend who was recently hospitalized for attempted suicide. As he grapples with despair and anguish, he doesn’t have time for religious fluff. What is my answer for him? What is yours?

I don’t pretend to understand the selectivity of suffering in the world.
Who gets cancer, or succumbs to Alzheimer’s? Who gets crushed in a car wreck? What winds sweep down to choose a victim, while sparing others right next door?

What makes Job, or my brain-injured son, or you, dear reader, the subject of God’s showdowns with Satan?

For that matter, what makes Job’s declaration, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15), more appropriate or noble than his wife’s counsel to simply “curse God and die!” (Job 2:9)?

The Bible tells us God loves us, yet who could blame us for becoming cynical, or even bitter?

Let’s be honest. It’s often hard to see God’s love here. What we do see quite readily is sorrow, pain, and death all around us.

Religion is full of talk about God’s love. Frankly, if God doesn’t ever do more than talk, why should we care?

Jesus lifts our eyes to a far deeper understanding of the love of God than religion will ever grasp. Jesus’ love is fraught with action.

He not only saw our anguish and pain, but He came. He willingly died to grant us forgiveness, eternal life, and genuine hope as we press on in our journey here and now …

The above is from the Epilogue of All the King’s Horses – Finding Purpose and Hope in Brokenness and Impossibility