Listening to Suffering- One Step at a Time

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. (Psalm 23:4)

When you walk through the fire you will not be burned. (Isaiah 43:2)

Thoughts: Suffering is not something we run through, but something we walk through.  We go one step at a time.  This is not just a common saying, but a Biblical concept.  We walk through the valley of the shadow, we walk through the fire.
     One of the few things preserved from the time of Jesus today in Jerusalem is the stairway from Caiaphas's house to the Herodian fortress.  These were the very steps that Jesus went down.  His rejection was hard, and he went one step at a time.  Perhaps in God's providence the steps are preserved to remind us of the long and painful walk of Jesus from trial place to trial place and eventually to the via dolorosa (way of suffering) to Golgotha- the cross.   Jesus teaches us to take suffering one step at a time.  The slowness of the suffering of Christ.
      When we walk, we find that the "Thou" of God- the Lord is with us, as He was with Daniel's three friends (Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego) when they were thrown into the fiery furnace.  God s with us if we will listen for Him and look for Him.  To do that we must walk, not run through suffering.

Prayer: Lord, teach me how to walk with you.  Let me walk through suffering through you- learning to trust you in good and bad times.