God wants us to have assurance
that no matter how much evil
and suffering and futility we see,
He will make all things new.
– John Piper
Tag: Christian suffering
God’s Purpose in Our Affliction
In the midst of facing various afflictions, I found the following Spurgeon devotional from this morning to be helpful:
“Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.”—Job 10:2.
PERHAPS, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star—not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of His children’s graces, to make them shine the better. It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, “Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.” Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?—for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why He is contending with you?
“Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to His feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.”
Along these same lines, I’d also recommend Crawford Loritts’ sermon “Jesus’ Transforming Power on Behalf of the Afflicted” that I listened to yesterday:
Are You Ready To Suffer?
On his way to Jerusalem, Paul is warned that he will be imprisoned. His friends urge him not to go, but he responds, “I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). He was ready to suffer imprisonment and even death for Jesus.
Are you ready to suffer?
Perhaps God would call you to be a missionary in a village with no gospel witness or to a tribe that has never heard the name of Jesus. Are you ready to suffer?
God calls all of us to share the gospel. Are you ready to suffer?
We must hold to the truth of God’s Word in a world that increasingly is embracing the lies of the devil. Are you ready to suffer?
We may not suffer imprisonment or death like many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. But are you ready to suffer ridicule? You may be hated for the name of Jesus. You may be avoided, shunned. You may even lose your job. Are you ready to suffer?
Jesus told us that if we would be his disciples, we must take up our cross daily and follow him (Luke 9:23). A cross is an object of suffering. We should expect suffering.
Are you ready to suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus?
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
The Benefit of Storms – J. C. Ryle (via J. C. Ryle Quotes)Your trials may be many and great. Your cross may be very heavy. But the business of your soul is all conducted according to an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure…
10 Reasons Why God Allows Suffering – Jared Wilson (via Justin Taylor)While we may not be satisfied with what God has revealed about his purposes in suffering, we cannot justifiably say he has not revealed anything about his purposes in suffering…
9 Lessons From God Concerning Sickness – J. C. Ryle (via J. C. Ryle Quotes)6. To make us pray. Too many, I fear, never pray at all, or they only rattle over a few hurried words morning and evening without thinking what they do. But prayer often becomes a reality when the valley of the shadow of death is in sight...
I Give You Glory, O Christ – Ephraim of Syria (via Trevin Wax)Glory to You for Your love.
Glory to You for Your mercy.
Glory to You for Your patience.
Glory to You for forgiving us all our sins...
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day trusting your Savior and giving him glory!
Quotes to Ponder
Before the next hurricane, tornado, or tsunami come, nail it down:
“Even the winds and the sea obey him” (Matt. 8:27).
– John Piper
To manage a life of pain, as a believer in Jesus,
remember: This is all the hell you will ever bear.
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne
The Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life,
by a constant proof of its miseries.
– John Calvin
There is a certain kind of maturity that can be attained
only through the discipline of suffering.
– D.A. Carson
RHMA Take Home Thoughts, Part 3
At the RHMA conference, D. A. Carson gave a two part seminar on “How To Think Wisely about Suffering and Evil.” I wish you could have heard the entire thing. What follows doesn’t begin to give the topic or seminar justice, but are simply some points that stood out to me:
- We all sin, so we all deserve to suffer.
- Suffering is short compared to eternity (at least for those in Christ).
- We can’t grasp God’s plan; we need to trust him.
- Our suffering may be God’s providential discipline (Hebrews 12:3-11).
- God brings good things out of bad things (think Joseph in Egypt).
- When you doubt God’s goodness, go back to the manger and the cross and see his love.
- Christians have been granted to believe and suffer (Philippians 1:29).
Passion Points
Let’s do numbers this weekend:
7 Motives in Our Work – We spend a lot of our lives working, but too many people live for the weekends when they can escape work. Here are seven motives to spur us on in our work.
36 Purposes of God in Our Suffering – Your suffering has a purpose! Read through this list, and be encouraged at what God is doing in you.
10 Marks of the Holy Spirit in a Believer – Do you see the Holy Spirit working in your life?
7 Questions to Ask As You Prepare for the Lord’s Supper – These are great questions to use to examine your life. I suspect the answers will not only spur you forward, but also make you incredibly grateful for the forgiveness that is ours in Christ. I just made a copy for my own personal use.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshipping the Lord with your local church!
May You Be Strengthened
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. – Colossians 1:11-12 (ESV)
I came across these verses about a month ago, and it has become my prayer for many people I know who are facing trials and struggles. I believe it might be a helpful model for you too in your prayers for the hurting and weary – maybe even yourself.
Strength – Our strength is small. And so we pray that God would strengthen us with his power and might each day as we walk through our trials.
Endurance – Sometimes it is easy to give up, to despair. And so we pray that God would give us strength to endure, to press on, to persevere, to hold onto him.
Patience – Sometimes it is easy to become impatient with trials that continue on and on, with the things that slow us down or hold us back. It is easy to get frustrated. Ando so we pray that God would give us strength to be patient in the midst of our trials.
Joy and thanksgiving – It can be incredibly hard to be joyful and thankful in the midst of trials. But Paul points us beyond our circumstances to a glorious truth that will never change. The Father has granted us salvation. This is reason to rejoice and give thanks. And so we pray that God would give us strength to remember our great salvation, and find joy and gratitude in it always.
Inheritance – Life can be hard now, but a glorious day is coming when there will be no more trials, no more tears, no more sickness, no more pain. We will dwell with our Lord forever. And so we pray that God would give us strength to remember our glorious hope.
Father, there are so many who are hurting and weary, ourselves included. Strengthen us with your mighty power so that we may endure with patience, joyfully give thanks for your great salvation, and cling to our glorious hope. Amen.
Gospel Shaped Suffering 4
How should the gospel shape our suffering? We have looked at six ways already. Let’s look at two final ways today.
Bearing Witness to Christ (Evangelism)
We receive the gospel by faith, but how will people hear the gospel unless we bear witness to Christ? Suffering offers us a powerful platform to share the work of Christ in our lives. Several people in my church have shared how they have had opportunities to tell others about Christ in the midst of their suffering. There are records from the early church of people who witnessed the suffering and death of Christian martyrs and were saved as a result. Courage, trust, and hope in trials leaves a lasting impression, a strong witness for Christ. In fact, sometimes are suffering is for the purpose of bearing witness. Jesus told his disciples that they would be taken to court, flogged, and dragged before rulers for his sake, “to bear witness before them” (Matthew 10:17-18). Using our suffering as an opportunity to bear witness to Christ is gospel shaped sufferings.
Counting All as Loss for the Treasure of Christ (Worship)
The gospel is spread through evangelism and received by faith, but what is the goal of the gospel? The goal is worship. As John Piper writes in his book on missions, “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” We were created to glorify God, but we all sin and fall short of his glory (Romans 3:23). The gospel exists to save us from our sins and change us back into worshippers who glorify God, worshippers who love God and serve God, who treasure God above all else.
Worshippers like Paul. In Philippians 3:7-11, Paul says he suffers the loss of all things for Christ. What is suffering? Often it is loss – loss of heath, loss of a loved one, loss of comfort, loss of a relationship, loss of a dream. Paul says he suffer the loss of all things, counts it all as loss. Why? Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. He will share in the sufferings of Christ because what he wants most of all is Christ. Gospel shaped suffering means we are willing to suffer loss because in Christ we have the greatest treasure of all.
What is gospel shaped suffering? It is:
- Following the path of Christ
- Becoming more like Christ
- Resting in the love of Christ
- Rejoicing in the hope of Christ
- Trusting God like Christ
- Comforting others in Christ
- Bearing witness to Christ
- Counting all as loss for the treasure of Christ
May God help us suffer in this way for his glory.
Gospel Shaped Suffering 3
As we have already explored, the gospel shapes our suffering as we recognize that we are following the path of Christ, as we embrace his purpose of becoming more like Christ, as we rest in his love, as we rejoice in our future hope. In this post we want to consider two more ways that the gospel shapes our suffering.
Trusting God Like Christ (Faith)
We receive the gospel by faith. We trust in what Jesus has done for us on the cross for salvation from our sins. But this trust in Jesus for salvation should spill into trust in Jesus in other areas of our lives – including suffering. The devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would worship the devil. But Jesus chose to trust the Father’s path for his life, a path of suffering. In the garden, Jesus prayed that he might be spared the cross, yet he concluded – “Not my will, but yours be done.” In other words he would trust his Father in the path of suffering. Paul notes in II Corinthians 1:8-9, that the purpose of his suffering was “to make us rely not on ourselves but on God….” In other words, Paul was learning to trust God in his suffering. Suffering often doesn’t make sense to us, but God calls us to trust him like Jesus and Paul did, to trust him in our suffering as we trust him in our salvation. That is gospel shaped suffering.
Comforting Others in Christ (Church)
The gospel is received by faith and ushers us into the body of Christ – the church. II Corinthians 1:3-4 makes the point that God comforts us in our suffering so we can comfort others who are suffering. The church is to be a place where I comfort others who are suffering, and where others comfort me in my suffering. Paul says in I Corinthians 12:26, “If one member suffers, all suffer together.” So the gospel creates the church where we comfort one another in our suffering. This is gospel shaped suffering.
Our suffering can be shaped by the gospel as we trust God in our suffering and use our suffering to comfort others. We’ll look at two final ways the gospel shapes our suffering in the next post.
Brian J. Mikul 