Suffering
In recent weeks we have seen great suffering across the nation. It is heartbreaking to see lives lost, homes destroyed and individuals who have lost health and hope. I think of the many parents who have lost children and cannot imagine their pain. No parent wants their child to suffer.
As I was reading the Bible, I paused at the passage where Jesus told his disciples, “I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished.” Luke 12:50 (NLT) In several other passages recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus clearly tells His disciples that He must suffer, be rejected and killed. The disciples could not understand or comprehend what Jesus was telling them. “Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, but then you will see me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’? And what does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.” John 16:17-18 (NLT)
So often, God clearly presents His message to us, but, just like the disciples, we just don’t get it. Perhaps it is not what we want to hear, or we are simply not equipped to understand. One question I have often asked is “Why did Jesus often instruct his disciples or those he healed to not tell about what He had done or what they had seen?” As I read the scriptures about Jesus’ suffering, I began to understand.
If the word of Jesus’ power and his miracles were accepted by the masses, if He were received as the Messiah, the people would not have turned against Him and He would not have been crucified. Jesus knew that He must suffer, just as the prophets had foretold, so that God’s justice and the penalty for sin would be fulfilled. The scriptures reveal that Jesus struggled humanly to accept what was required of Him. But because He knew the purpose of His suffering, He was willing. “He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Matthew 26:39 (NLT). That day on the cross God suffered, both as a Father as He watched His Son beaten and crucified, and as human in the body of Jesus as He died on the cross. Because of His great love for us, God suffered.
Is there purpose in the suffering we experience? In Romans 8:17 (NLT) we read, “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” Then in 2 Timothy 4:5 (NLT) we are given this encouragement, “But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.”
There are many different ways that we experience suffering. There are many ways that we can tell others the Good News. God has a ministry for each of us – even in our suffering. Perhaps through our suffering. We read in Isaiah 30:20-21 (NLT), “Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.”
After a season of suffering, Job, in dust and ashes, declared, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” Job 42:5(NLT)
In our suffering, we become equipped to see God – to know Him in ways that we had not known before. This knowledge results in a strong faith that we can share and help others see and know God.
In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 1 Peter 5:10 (NLT)
This is such a necessary message, but so unpopular. We Americans are so comfort-driven, we do not wish to see that faith and endurance grow more in adversity. I often lack compassion until experience tragedy myself.
It is good to know that God is with us through all the suffering.
None of us like to suffer but yet we do. I’m so glad that God gives us His promise that He will bring something good out of it and that there is a purpose in our pain.
I am glad that God doesn’t waste anything. He uses our suffering to draw us and others to Him. He never leaves or forsakes us which is a great comfort in the midst of our suffering.