A friend of mine, whom I greatly respect, responded to that sermon by challenging me to fill out what I meant about God taking care of us. He wrote: "I certainly know of many, many, many, many harrowing cases in which it does not seem as though God was watching out for anyone. Of course, what seems like torture to us - chemo, surgeries, pain enough to perform a root canal on your deepest feelings, might be part of God's curriculum for us, but, on the face of it, it is hardly a thought to calm anxiety. Maybe we could or should trust that God will give us the strength to endure the rack that most of us will end up on - but I just don't find that all that reassuring."

What does Jesus mean about God taking care of us when the evidence seems to be to the contrary? How can we trust God to take care of us when he doesn't appear to be doing anything to help us?

I would like to respond to these questions by reflecting on some Biblical passages. I don't want to give a superficial answer to the problem of suffering. All I can do is take some examples of suffering and see how they are handled in the Bible.

I would like to begin with Psalm 22, which Jesus himself quoted on the Cross.

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night and am not silent." (1,2 NIV)

"God, God...my God! Why did you dump me miles from nowhere?

Doubled up with pain, I call to God all the day long. No answer. Nothing.

I keep at it all night, tossing and turning." (1,2 The Message)

Here is the experience of someone who is in the midst of great pain and distress. She feels all alone in her suffering. This is the deepest human desolation.

Jesus, who spoke often of his close union with his Father, gives utterance to the estrangement caused by his bearing our sins, which separate us from God. Yet he still refers to God in personal terms: "My God". Despite the sense of aloneness God is sharing this suffering in Jesus. We know that the Father loves the Son as the murdered man Jesus, who has thoroughly made himself at one with estranged human beings, so that he shares their own sense of alienation and loss of meaning. God identifies himself with the Son of Man who has identified with sinners. Paul tells us that God the Son: "made himself nothing, and became obedient unto death - even death on the Cross." (Philippians 2:7,8) Far from being isolated from our suffering, God in Jesus endures the worst that suffering can inflict upon a human being - being made nothing - the sense of being excluded from the source of life and love, that our life means nothing to us or anyone. In that blackest of darkness prayer does not give any relief.

"In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.

They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed." (4 NIV)

"We know that you were there for our parents: they cried for your help and you gave it;

they trusted and lived a good life." (4 The Message)

We tend to look back to our childhood with nostalgia, and think that our parents had it easier than us. At least they seemed to cope better than us. They appeared to trust in God to take care of them and he did. They seemed not to be disappointed in God. In reality they had their own challenges which we knew little about. Each generation thinks that their problems are greater than their predecessors, but it isn't so.

We look at our contemporaries and the culture and can think that our friends mock our faith when we say that we trust in God to help us.

"All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

'He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him.

Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.'" (7,8 NIV)

So the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law mocked Jesus on the cross. (Matthew 27:43) The world delights in mocking our faith and provoking us, daring us, to prove that God can rescue us from our troubles.

The psalmist goes on to describe his experience of helplessness and feeling of abandonment in terms of being attacked by wild beasts: strong bulls encircling him and intimidating him, roaring lions tearing their prey; dogs surrounding him. He is weak as water poured out, his heart has melted like wax, his strength has dried up. He feels as though he is a bag of bones, and that people are taking advantage of him. "They take my wallet and the shirt off my back, and then throw dice for my clothes." (18 The Message) Those who crucified Jesus did this to him. (Matthew 27:35)

When we are sick we experience this sense of helplessness. We feel that we have no strength. We cannot take care of ourselves. We are completely dependent on others. We are embarrassed by our weakness, our vulnerability, our fragility. The most self-sufficient, highly disciplined, capable over-achiever can be rendered as helpless as a baby requiring assistance for all his physical needs.

In his humanity Jesus had to have someone help him to carry the Cross. After the crucifixion he was taken down from the Cross and laid in a tomb. Even his clothes were stolen from him. The message that is being communicated is that the worst kind of suffering has been experienced by God in Christ. We can trust in this God to help us, to take care of us, because he is in the suffering with us. We may feel forsaken, abandoned, alone, but the reality is that Christ is with us.

We may be distracted from seeing him because of our vulnerability, our weakness, our helplessness, our sense of being attacked by forces greater than us, and alien to us. But the volume of their threats and the ferocity of their images should not overwhelm us and make us deaf and dumb to the presence of God who is our strength.

Satan wants us to believe that God has deserted us. When the worst happens to us, we are tempted to despair. When Death strikes and there seems to be no remedy we feel abandoned. But in the midst of death there is life. We must believe that God is a very present help in trouble, even when we see no visible sign of his presence.

"For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one;

he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help." (24 NIV)

"He has never let you down,

never looked the other way when you were being kicked around.

He has never wandered off to do his own thing;

he has been right there listening." (24 The Message)

Sometimes God takes care of us simply by being present to us, being compassionate to us, listening to us. If we know that someone cares, that someone takes our suffering seriously, that they listen to us, then we draw strength to endure and to hope. When circumstances cannot be changed, when the diagnosis cannot be altered, when there are no options left to pursue, when we must accept the inevitable, then God can give us courage to face death bravely, and trust that those we leave behind will be able to survive without us.

As Christians we believe that this world is not all there is. We believe in the resurrection of the body to a new heavens and a new earth prepared for us. Death is not the end. "Death has been swallowed up in victory. God has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:54,57)

We can be assured that God will take care of those we leave behind. They may not have us to take care of them, but we believe God will take care of them as they trust in him.

"Our children and their children will get in on this

As the word is passed along from parent to child.

Babies not yet conceived will hear the good news –

that God does what he says." (30,31 The Message)

Trust in the God who suffers with us and in us, is possible because we believe that God is as good as his word, and that he will deliver on his promises - he will do what he says.

"Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him.

If we disown him, he will also disown us;

if we are faithless, he will remain faithful,

for he cannot disown himself." (2 Timothy 2:11-13)

Because we know that God suffers with us, we are moved to trust him for the future. This trust overcomes the power of death and despair. This trust preserves alive our relationship with God and others. The resurrection of Jesus convinces us that something new is happening. When we are tempted to think that life has come to an end, God is creating new possibilities of life and relationships. What happened after the death on the cross? "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place." (Philippians 2:9) That is why Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me." (John 14:1)

---The Rev. Ted Schroder is a priest living and writing on Amelia Island, Florida