Does it have to be suffering?
Why does the Redeemer so often use suffering and trials? Why not sunshine and roses? Because success doesn’t sanctify. We want ease, but ease never produces righteousness. Suffering does. The Psalmist writes, “Before I was afflicted I went astray…It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes…in faithfulness you have afflicted me” (Psalm 119:67, 71, 75). In the depths of his suffering Job cries out, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15, KJV).
In one of his letters to the church at Corinth, Paul clues us in to his own suffering. He writes:
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
I am so glad we don’t know what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, because this biblical promise isn’t limited to oppressive people or bad eyesight or some other specific difficulty. God’s promise to preserve His people through all suffering is the guarantee to redeem all forms of trials or trouble we may face. Paul reveals the central purpose in his suffering and suffering for all time. God takes His children to a school of suffering to keep us from becoming self-reliant. Chuck Swindoll, one of the great preachers and writers of our time, sees God’s way of inflicting suffering as the Lord removing all our crutches that we by default rely on rather than trusting and depending on God.
“God will never give you more than you can handle,” is a pithy, Bible-sounding statement that a lot of well-meaning Christians give as encouragement, but it is not true. God will give you more than you can handle, so that you will stop relying on your own strength, resources, connections, plans, schemes, and ideas! Paul writes in that same letter to the Corinthian church:
2 Corinthians 1:8-10 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
Paul even goes so far as to say, “We rejoice in our sufferings” (Romans 5:3). James writes, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). Those thoughts are completely contrary to the way our human minds think. We want God to conform to our ways, rather than conforming our ways and thoughts to His. The Apostle was seeing and understanding things God’s way.
Suffering, trials, difficulties, and wounds are God’s gracious way of training. The Bible says, “He wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal” (Job 5:18). When God wants to write a great story that displays His glory, He breaks a man or woman. He deeply wounds them. If He doesn’t, we’ll hijack His glory. We’ll grab the trophy. We will take credit, accept the accolades, and revel in the praise. In our fallen state, we want the glory because that’s our way! And God’s way isn’t our way.
We as humans love to achieve, because then we can accept some or all of the credit. God’s ways of grace are not about achieving but receiving. We receive grace and mercy. And because we received and didn’t achieve, God gets the glory. Paul received grace from God to endure during this trial. We must be trained by suffering. We must be baptized in anguish before we truly see our fallen ways and the glorious ways of God.
Psalm 107
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to a city to dwell in;
hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
they fell down, with none to help.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and burst their bonds apart.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
For he shatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.
Some were fools through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from their destruction.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
And there he lets the hungry dwell,
and they establish a city to live in;
they sow fields and plant vineyards
and get a fruitful yield.
By his blessing they multiply greatly,
and he does not let their livestock diminish.
When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, evil, and sorrow,
he pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
but he raises up the needy out of affliction
and makes their families like flocks.
The upright see it and are glad,
and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Psalm 105:16-24
When he summoned a famine on the land
and broke all supply of bread,
he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
His feet were hurt with fetters;
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
until what he had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested him.
The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
he made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions,
to bind his princes at his pleasure
and to teach his elders wisdom.
Then Israel came to Egypt;
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
And the Lord made his people very fruitful
and made them stronger than their foes.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.