Friday, September 9, 2016

The lesson from suffering

There seems to be a recurring lesson in the Scriptures. It is that suffering has a purpose. Elisabeth Elliot used to say that suffering is having something we don't want or wanting something we don't have.

Unfortunately suffering comes into all of our lives. Some, it seems, experience more than their fair share. Or so we, in our finite understanding, think. But, if we are truthful, how many can say they have gone through what Paul did? In 2 Corinthians 1:8-9a he says:
"We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death."
Another example of Paul's suffering is found in 2 Corinthians 11:24-26:
"Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones,three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers."
OK, so I haven't been pelted with stones or been beaten with rods, but I have suffered and I have asked God why. The rest of verse 9 from 2 Corinthians 1 says:
"But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."
Now we are getting somewhere! If I am in relationship with Almighty God, then I am to rely on Him (the One who can raise the dead!). Another word for rely would be trust. With each and every suffering experience, He asks us "Will you trust (or rely on) me? Or will you go it alone?

The following verse from Isaiah 50:11 puts this in perspective by showing the results of going it alone. Be warned - it's not pretty.
"But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment."

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