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7. In the midst of seeking out the power of the Spirit, we must not avoid the sufferings of Christ. This is the message of Mark's gospel: the disciples could not have Christ in his glory without Christ in his suffering.

Several weeks ago, one of my students died of cancer. Another was about to die. I began urging students at the seminary to pray for God's intervention. The Lord did not answer our prayer in the way we had hoped. Three weeks later, Brendan Ryan was buried. My own pain was increased when I saw his three small children paraded in front of the mourners at his memorial service.

Two more of my students are on the verge of death. As I visit with them, I learn about suffering and honesty with God. Out of my pain—pain for these students and their families, pain for my son, pain for myself—comes honesty and growth. I have moments when I doubt God's goodness. Yet I do not doubt that he has suffered for me far more than I will ever suffer for him. And that is the only reason I let him hold my hand through this dark valley. In seeking God's power, I discovered his person. He is not just omnipotent; he is also the God of all comfort. And taking us through suffering, not out of it, is one of the primary means that the Spirit uses today in bringing us to God.

There is a lesson in this both for cessationists and charismatics. To my charismatic friends, I say: We must not avoid suffering as though it were necessarily evil, for we cannot embrace Christ in his resurrection apart from embracing him in his death. To my cessationist friends: We must not anesthetize our pain by burying our heads in the text, as if a semi-gnostic experience of the Word will somehow solve the riddle of our misery.

And to my son I say: I love you, Andy. And I am grateful for all that you, in your childlike faith, have taught me about life and about God.

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Daniel B. Wallace is assistant professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Copyright 1994 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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September 12 1994, Vol. 38, No. 10