Suffering--A Personal Perspective

The past few weeks I've undergone a series of trials that have been difficult for me.  I've gained a better perspective on suffering than I've had in the past.  I know this seems like a big "duh" but as I was reading through the Scriptures I realized just how much a part of this earthly life is suffering.  Only in heaven will the saints of God in Christ dwell in a sinless and thus painless realm.  Only when we gaze upon the face of the Savior and Lord will all the earthly trappings of this body be gone.  What a glorious day will it be when the resurrection occurs. I Corinthians 15: 54: "But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory."  We will suffer no more.

What are some of the lessons I've learned from the recent suffering? First, God uses pain to refine us.  He sits at the refiner's fire shaving off the dross of our lives until He sees Himself more in His own child.  The Psalmist in Psalm 19 asks the Lord not only to keep him from presumptive sins but also any hidden iniquity. One purpose of suffering is to reveal to us the deeper issues of the heart.  The Lord reveals hidden idols, deception and a myriad of other sins.  Second, God uses pain to draw us closer to Himself.  A former BSF teacher used to say that we need to bend into God at all times.  In the good times and in the bad He draws near to those who draw near to Him.

Third, suffering has made me realize the vast importance of the church. We truly need one another. American culture is so counter to God's revealed Word. I've valued my independence and secretly applauded my self reliance. It wasn't until an emergency room visit a few weeks ago that I realized how desperately dependent we are not only upon the Holy Spirit but also upon whom all He indwells.  Romans 12: 5:  "So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another."  Amplified Bible states it thus: " So we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another]." We truly are mutually dependent upon one another.

Fourth, suffering enables us to comfort others.  Only through the difficulties and trials does compassion grow.  Pain has a way of humbling us.  It reminds us of our mortality and enables to come alongside those in similar places.  It enlarges our perspective and allows us to learn that our suffering may be abundant in Christ but so is our comfort through Him (II Corinthians 1: 5). It forces us to wrestle with some very hard questions often to come up with no definitive answer except to throw ourselves upon the mercy of the Lord and agree with Job: " Therefore, I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes."  Suffering when given into the loving hands of a redemptive Savior brings Him glory and results in our good.  It transforms those who sit under its discipline.

Fifth, this recent suffering has taught me that we can recognize the pain for what it is.  Frankly I am sick and it hurts. That isn't such a good thing and it's not wrong to wish I was healed. Yet we rejoice in knowing that a good, great, glorious and gracious God is going to bring about His sovereign purposes in ways we will not always know this side of heaven.  Psalm 37: 39-40: "But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble.  The Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in Him."  Psalm 46: 1 promises that "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."  Somehow one of the greatest results of these current trials is that the Lord has become even more real and present in my life.  For that I am very grateful.