Suffering in Joy As many of you may know, I have been struggling with one hardship after another. The problems have been in every area of my life; finance, health, family and so on. I have struggled with this constant bombardment of issues for the past three years. I have prayed and I have sought counsel; seemingly to no avail. Now, I find myself led to write this piece about suffering. As humans, we are strapped with human emotions, thoughts and feelings. When we suffer for any reason, we feel that God has abandoned us. We see no benefit to ourselves or to others for our suffering. We will be told by many well intentioned people that there is a reason for our suffering. Those words leave us cold and uncomforted! The truth is revealed to us when we stop looking at ourselves and start looking at Jesus! He suffered for us that we might have live! We will see that our suffering does, in fact serve a purpose. We suffer for many reasons; some of them are: • As an ongoing consequence of the fall of Adam and Eve. • As a consequence of our own actions. • At the hands of the devil. • As a result of our faith. • As a foundation for spiritual growth. • To further the cause of Jesus’ kingdom. A study of the book of 2 Corinthians may help us to understand the why of our suffering. The Apostle Paul was no stranger to suffering; but he saw suffering as a mantle from Jesus. • “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4) Our suffering opens up a channel for God to comfort us in all our troubles. But, we are comforted for a purpose. God never gives us anything that He does not want us to share! That includes His comfort. From the comfort we receive, we are to comfort others. When we give comfort to others, especially when we ourselves are suffering, we receive joy and out of that joy comes strength. • “10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:-10) Paul experienced great joy at being allowed to suffer for Christ. Suffering showed him how weak he was but the joy of suffering made him stronger in Christ! Paul saw his suffering as a “thorn in his flesh”; a constant reminder of how weak he was on his own but how strong he was in Christ. • “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9) As previously stated, when we suffer, an opportunity opens up for us to comfort others who are suffering; “4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4). This goes against every bit of our humanity. When we suffer, we want to avoid others who are suffering. We want to insulate ourselves fro the reminder of the pain and trials of our own suffering. God wants us to learn from Him. He wants us to stop being selfish and self- centered so that we can see the suffering of others as He sees them. When we begin to see suffering and then to give comfort, we will receive great joy! Our heartaches and setbacks, our trials and tribulations allow us to identify more with the trials and suffering of our savior, Jesus Christ! Paul began to see suffering as another part of his growing to be more like Christ. • “10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11) The apostles also considered it a privilege to suffer for Jesus. Paul related in Acts: • “41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 5:41) We can be comforted in the knowledge that Jesus is our high priest and as our high priest, He endured intense pain and anguish so that we might be comforted. Because of His suffering; He has empathy for us when we suffer. • “14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16) The prophet Isaiah foretold of the suffering of Christ on our behalf. • “4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5) Because of the suffering of Christ; we can state with confidence that nothing can separate us from God’s love thru Jesus Christ! • “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) When we suffer and look to ourselves, we are defeated; yet when we look to Christ in our suffering, we become more than conquerors because of His love for us! • “37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37) Jesus learned obedience to His Fathers will through suffering! We must do the same! • “8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8) Let us remember that our suffering should give us joy in Christ! Let us take comfort from the words of Peter: • “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you part take of Christ’ sufferings that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” (I Peter 4:12, 13) In Christ, John
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 21:20:10 +0000
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