Suffering Well

This past weekend, I was thinking that it is important when bad things happen in our lives so that we can understand who God is. If we never had financial difficulties, we would never know Him as a Provider. Without sickness, we would not experience His healing power.  If there were no turmoil in our lives, we wouldn’t cry out to the Prince of Peace. Not having loss, means we would not need a Comforter. If we didn’t have storms, we wouldn’t need a God who stills the storms or takes us through the overflowing waters. If we were never weak, then we couldn’t understand God’s strength. If we were not in impossible situations, we would not see the greatness of a miracle working God who does the impossible. If we had no darkness, we would not need His guiding light.  In all the badness we can see God’s goodness.

It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. Psalm 119:71

This is one of the Bible verses in a devotional video I watched which was expressing the same thoughts I had. When we are afflicted many of us tend to seek God more for answers and help. When we are in periods of trials and uncertainty, we find our hope in Him as He is certain. Oswald Chambers expresses the idea of being certain in God well.

The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain of the rest, never knowing what a day may bring. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should be said with a burst of breathless expectation: we’re uncertain of the next step, but we’re certain of God.

Sometimes life is so difficult, we do not know what to expect next and we are unable to plan. But we can be certain that God has a plan. Our certainty in God is expressed through our faith in Him which grows during troubles. Tribulations give us the opportunity to flex our faith muscles which is built by persevering through the trials of life, which also shapes us into having godly character resulting in us having hope when all seems hopeless.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:1-5

We can feel the love of God even more when we are enduring difficulties as we see how much He cares for us in our trials. Some of us may question His love during our challenging period, if we take our eyes off Him. But if our gaze remains fixed on Him, we will see that He is watching over us lovingly in the hardships and all our steps are ordered by Him.

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way.  When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand. Psalm 37:23-24

God is with us to lift us up when we fall. He hears the cries of the righteous and delivers them from trouble, and He is close to those who have broken hearts and feel crushed in spirit. (See Psalm 34:17-18). The Lord loves us a lot and has shown this through Jesus’ own pain on the cross. And we too must pick up our own cross daily to ensure we go through the gate which leads to life which is straight and narrow. It is not easy so only a few will go through it.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:10-12

He is with us through all the persecutions and insults, and it is all in His plan to bless us. Many people may think they are hurting us when they come against us, but God can use those hurts to draw us closer to Him. Moreover, we can consider it great joy as we go through many kinds of trials because God is allowing all these to happen to test our faith and when our endurance grows, we will be made perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (See James 1:2-4).  We will have good times also, but it is the adversities in our life which helps us to be firmly rooted in Christ, having our hope in Him. Charles Spurgeon wrote about this, and I think it is a good way to end this article as we learn to suffer well.

The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ.

The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.