Little about me:
I am Wally (Vladimir) Kuskoff. I was born in China in 1951, the first born of 9 children to Russian parents. I was 14 years old when immigrated to Australia. Since 1983 I have been living in Finland and while living in Finland I was a Christian Missionary to Russia for several years. I've worked and studied in Australia, New Guinea, Philippines, USA and Sweden. I've also visited many other countries. I have two grownup daughters.
My main interest in life is to really discover the real meaning or
the central purpose to life and to attain it. That is, to make the
most of the most important aspects of life.
There is so much suffering and injustice in
life that there seems to be not enough reasons for me to live, IF
there is no life after death. Life!?!
Why was it given to us? What am I
to accomplish in it?
I feel like saying, "I agree with you King Solomon as you have said,
'I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold,
all is vanity and vexation of spirit.'"
So what is the reason for Life when there is so much suffering in
it? Why were we created?
Through the agony and pain in my life I have learned things that
I would not have learned otherwise. Through pain I have discovered
"Why we were created?" and discovered the main reason for pain and
suffering.
When my suffering was beyond what I could bear on my own, I needed
a crutch. Yes, I needed help from somebody, and I found that NO HUMAN
being was capable enough to help. You guessed it! The only one that
could walk with me through the pain - was God.
The interesting thing is that He did not take the pain away, as you
would expect, even when I begged Him, but He allowed it to change
me and my perspective on life.
Now I understand why the Bible says, "Reckon it nothing but joy,
my brethren, whenever you find yourselves hedged in by various trials."
In other words, the pain forced me to look for a solution to my suffering,
and the only place I was able to find it was in the One that has suffered
more than anyone that ever lived on this earth - and it was Jesus!
In the suffering I have discovered God in a way that I never knew
Him before although I have known Him and walked close with Him for
almost 30 years.
I hope you got my point. What I am saying is that I believe that
God lets the suffering help us to discover Him and what life is all
about - that life is worth the living and that without God, life is
meaningless.
I suppose that if you are having a great time
in your life you are not asking, "Why was I born?" It is when things
don't go the way we would like them to go again and again that some
of us begin to think, "Why were we created this way, if there is a creator?"
As I was knocked about in life, I tried to find the root cause for
it. No matter from what direction I approached it or from what human
tragedy I started, I eventually realized that my complaint was really
against the Creator!
I know that He is not incompetent, so why did He create man and woman
the way he did? What was His goal? What is He doing with me? Why the
suffering? What is His goal for my life?
Before I knew God, in my first 17 years of my life, I did conclude
that life was not worth the trouble living. I saw life as being as
meaningless as a mouse running in a wheel. Then as I searched, I discovered
Jesus and my life became an adventure for most of my next 30 years,
except for some times of deep suffering, each of them bringing me
to a greater understanding of God and His purpose for human life.
I am beginning to see in a clearer way God's purpose for arranging
our life the way we have it. He wants us in this life to discover
the advantages of love compared to selfishness, of pride compared
to humility and so on. What it all boils down to is: Am I going to
continue to try to be the master of my own life (and others) or will
I let God be the Lord? But even when we have realized it and we have
told God to be the Boss in our life, He does not seem to be in a rush
to take over. At least that is how I have experienced it.
I often behave like the proverbial man who fell off a cliff in the
dark but managed to take hold of a branch. As he hung there he called
out for help and he heard a voice saying, "I can help you but you
have to trust me." The man agreed. "Let go of the branch," said the
voice but the man asked, "Who are you?" "I Am God," came the reply.
Man called out again, "Is there anyone else that can help me?" When
the morning light came, the man discovered that he was so close to
the ground that he was almost touching it.
I am learning to "let go" when I hear His directions because I am
discovering over and over again as someone said, "If you think that
you are in charge, then you do not know all the facts."
Most of us live in assumptions and not in reality. (Yes, maybe I
am living in an assumptions even now, and you could be too). The life
as God allowed it to be will continue to batter us until our most
important values become more and more identified with the reality
of the Universe. So, why was I created? To learn God's values and
to accept them as my own, so that I could have more intimate fellowship
with Jesus.
To conclude:
Why there is Suffering?
NATURALLY we try to avoid discomfort (suffering)
in the similar way as some would like to avoid tests at school, but
some suffering, as tests, are necessary in the school of life. We
are born to gain ETERNAL values. Suffering seems to be one of the
major ingredient in life that encourages us to embrace God's values.
"When a bucked is kicked, what is in it comes out."
When we are in pain we often respond or react from our natural instinct
which, most of the time, does more harm than good and prolongs our
suffering. God is the only One that can be objective and He knows
what is best for all concern. He will guide us, if we let Him, through
the maize of suffering to achieve in us healing and character that
would be more like Jesus'.
Often (but not always) the most difficult time for
us to know what God desires for us, is when we are in pain. As our
character develops it becomes easier to respond in the right way.
Pain shows to us that something is not in harmony with God or ourselves
or both. When we are in pain we discover our strengths and weaknesses
in our character. Suffering can help us to discover our selves and
who God really is.