Suffering: The Ultimate Blessing

Have you ever prayed for suffering? Prayed for bruised knees and broken hearts and persecution? Prayed to be uncomfortable and hated and martyred?

Death for Christ would be the greatest honor. To not only surrender our lives, but our deaths to Him. That would be the ultimate, ultimate privilege. To be able to die for my King and give my complete all for His glorification, so that even in my death, people can see the validity and greatness of my God in this broken body. 

A false teacher invades the church today, whispering lies, boxing us inside our cramped comfort zones, limiting us because we cannot stand emotional pain, criticism, or ridicule. So often our lives sit on the shelf, gathering dust, because we are afraid to suffer. Afraid to take that cross upon ourselves and risk losing happiness, comfort, friendships. We run from hardship. We run from pain. We run because we love our lives too much to give up anything for God. 

And this selfishness, this personal clenching of fists, is far from biblical. Suffering is not a burden or punishment, but a gift. An opportunity to mature and grow and lean ever closer to our dear Savior. A chance to become more like the One who made us. Suffering breaks us because we need to be broken, for only when we are broken and humbled can we truly, fully rely on Christ and say, "Your will be done". And suffering frees our death grip from ourselves and our possessions. It opens our tense fists and shapes our shaking fingers to open palms lifted high, begging Christ to come down and fill the cross-shaped hole within us.

"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."

The only way we can grow into sanctification is through hardship. 

Through trials and the brutal testing of our faith, we can become perfect. Complete. Lacking in nothing. What goodness is this? That we can be complete, mature, holy. That we can be perfect to the One who commands and upholds all perfection. 

Stars require the darkness of night to twinkle radiantly through the emptiness of space. In brilliant sunshine, stars cannot be distinguished among the other things that shine and glitter. But when distractions are removed, when the sunshine and blessings of life are suddenly obliterated, when all falsity is torn away and all that remains is raw soul, then can we become purified. And suffering does that. It tears away the things we hold dear, desecrating our personal idols and showing us the hypocrisy we live in. It reveals our personal need for Christ and causes His qualities to mature within us. Qualities like patience and joy and kindness and love. Qualities that He lived and died for. 

And gold becomes refined in fire, the impurities dripping away in the heat of the flames. And so it is fitting. As the bellows roar and rage in searing insanity, throughout the craziness and harshness and bleakness of life, we are made holy into Christ's likeness. Although troubles and hardships beat at us and hammer away on these near broken hearts, only then are impurities and dross eradicated. Only then can purity be revealed and developed. Through the fire. Through the flames.

Because of this, we need to praise God through the darkness, learn to appreciate the dirt and the flames. Because all this is good. Good for us. And just like children cannot tolerate vegetables or vitamins or shots or things that are necessary for health, we also shrink from anything that causes pain, not realizing that pain only lasts for a little while, while holiness and godly character last for eternity. 

Suffering is vital to our spiritual maturity. 

"Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

We should run towards suffering, embrace it because it produces perfection and character and hope. 

It's ironic, isn't it? That God would use the seemingly evil and wrong and dark to bring out the light in us that we might shine ever brighter for our King? But hasn't He always chosen the weak to shame the strong, the humble for greatness? That even in the moments when we cannot see the light, we cannot see the hope in the midst of this great darkness, hope is being developed in us. God's hope shines even more brightly in the darkness, drawing us to Him, so His hope can shine on in us. 

And that's why God uses suffering. So He can shine through the darkness ever more brightly and glory might be brought to His Name. He is glorified when we honor Him through our suffering. When we act in godly response to hardship and persecution, the strength and goodness and sovereignty of God are ever more visible. For example, the standing endurance and perseverance of fellow Christians in the midst of physical illness or spiritual difficulties are testimonies of God and His truth. If God were not real, enduring such tribulations would be near impossible. But when we can praise Him through the storm, when we can sing His praises even when everything is stripped away, He is glorified.

Also, during the pain and night-blindness and tears, we do not walk alone. Not only does Christ promise to sanctify us with suffering, He promises that He will always and forever be beside us, not allowing us to endure more than we can handle. And isn't that simply amazing? That we can receive patience and endurance and strength. That we can cry on His shoulder and lean on Him for the next step, for the next second. 

And suddenly the darkness doesn't seem quite so bleak, nor the fire so intense. For what do we fear once that God above is beside us? He is sovereign over all things, the Creator of the world and omnipotent. What shall I fear? Struggles or pain or suffering or tears or heartache? No. Never. When God alone rules over struggles, works through pain, uses suffering, wipes away tears, and heals heartache, shall we resist Him?

And I pray for suffering. Pray that my faith might be tested and strengthened and purified.  For with my God beside me, with my God ever near me, I have the strength to walk through flames.

Oh, God. Make me cherish suffering. Make me open and unresistant to the work of Your Holy Spirit in my heart. Make me like You. Whatever the cost, Lord, use me to glorify Your Name.