God is the most beautiful being in existence. He has been showing me some of His beauty lately in His character. God's character is a radiant, exuberant joy which is full of compassion. This is a mystery, as joy and the suffering of compassion do not usually go together. However, God is love, and love's first description in 1 Corinthians 13 is that it "suffers long." Love is also kind. Can you imagine a radiant being, full of joy, who willingly suffers with you your every pain and misfortune? The Bible says that He "dwells in inapproachable light." This light is His joy, which bursts out of Him every instant and upholds the fabric of the universe with the song of His Voice.
At the same time that He radiates joy, He suffers continually a great and terrible anguish, since the people He loves so much are separated from Him and are suffering. The agony that His people feel is shared by Him every single moment of every day and night.
To know God is to share in His suffering joy. This supernatural co-occurence of suffering and joy is one of the greatest witnesses of truly knowing Christ, who is God in human form, which He took on in order to bear our suffering with us and save us from our separation from Him.
At the same time that He radiates joy, He suffers continually a great and terrible anguish, since the people He loves so much are separated from Him and are suffering. The agony that His people feel is shared by Him every single moment of every day and night.
To know God is to share in His suffering joy. This supernatural co-occurence of suffering and joy is one of the greatest witnesses of truly knowing Christ, who is God in human form, which He took on in order to bear our suffering with us and save us from our separation from Him.
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