"The essence of love is Oneness"

"'Has love no power to save apart from suffering? Why must love suffer at all, and why, above all else, must love suffer long?'

"'It is because the very essence of love is oneness,' said the King. 

"'That is why love must suffer. If the beloved creatures whom the Creator created for love's sake must suffer, then the oneness of love makes it impossible for Him to allow them to suffer anything which He is not willing to suffer with them.'"   (Mountains of Spices, Hannah Hurnard)

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"...The very essence of love is oneness..."

This phrase has echoed in my mind many times this week. 

It is impossible for our God to let us suffer without suffering with us. It is impossible for trials and pressures to squeeze us on every side without Him feeling those trials and pressures too. 

And yet, how often do I try to handle them on my own? 

Standing up under pressure without supernatural strength holding you can only last so long. 

My own soul has felt weights building in the last few months that I have never felt before and that have made me feel weak and helpless. 

But too often, my soul settles into denial that my need is really real. 

"It's not that big of a deal," a cynical voice whispers about the challenges I face. As I listen, my heart hardens, and I can no longer feel the comfort of my Savior who is one with me in my suffering, trials and needs.

But a sweeter voice speaks, "My child, let yourself feel the pain, for with pain comes comfort. Let yourself feel your need, for with need comes My heavenly help."

I squirm and I fight. I live in denial. Could I really be as weak as I feel? 

This denial does not change what is actually happening. I am just trying to pretend it is not there and that I can handle it. 

But the reality is, when I live in this denial too long, my heart grows colder, my faith grows weaker, and my confusion thickens into a dense fog.

Again, the voice speaks, "Let yourself feel your weakness. Embrace it, my child. My comfort comes swiftly behind pain. My help comes swiftly behind your need."

//

Jesus is one with us in our realities, but if we cannot face our realities, we cannot face Him.

Jesus is one with us in our suffering, but if we cannot embrace our suffering, we cannot embrace Him. 

Rejecting the trials of your faith that God brings you through is also rejecting His grace in those trials. 

//

"Oh, my child," He whispers gently, "This is not meant to be easy for you. It is not meant to be proof that you can handle suffering."

Confusion fills my mind. "Then what is it for, my Lord?"

"Comfort and heavenly strength," He answers sweetly.

//

"Blessed be the... God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulations..." (2 Cor 1:3b-4a)

"And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'..." (2 Cor 12:9)

//

Comfort that God gives is not meant to stay with me. 

His oneness with me in my suffering teaches me oneness with others in their suffering.

We learn best by experience. 

Often, I am so engrossed in my circumstances and the weights pressing down on me that I don't look up and notice His compassionate gaze.

He peers deeply into my soul and sees the strain and stress that pressure puts on it. 

He looks within the well of my emotions and notices how frayed they are. 

When tears well up in my eyes, aren't His eyes filling with tears of His own?

When my heart breaks, isn't His heart breaking too?

This Shepherd and Friend is no mere onlooker in my trials, but He is a Bearer of my burdens, an ever-present Help in times of need, a Friend that sticks closer than the closest brother ever could. 

This is oneness. He feels the weight of every trial His body (His bride) faces, and He seeks to bear the burden for them.

And this oneness teaches me how He wants to reach out to other hurting ones through me. 

Comfort received from Him is meant to be given. 

The trials you and I face open up our lives to be conduits of His love and grace to others. 

So, don't push suffering away. Don't reject trials. Don't stuff the feelings of weakness, pain and sorrow your circumstances might be bringing you and pretend they're not there. 

Rather embrace them.

Let yourself cry in His arms. 

Face and embrace the weakness you actually feel, and in so doing, embrace Christ Himself, for it is in your weakness that He is strong. 

And this strength of His will become in you a well of life for others.

//

"...Therefore, most gladly will I rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor 12:9-10)

"Who comforts us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God." (2 Cor 1:4)

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