Redemptive Suffering

Discouragement and disappointments have often been experienced by God's faithful people.  In the depths of suffering many wondered why they had ever been born!  Consider this lament of the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:14-18:  "Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me! ¹⁵ Let the man be cursed who brought news to my father, saying, "A male child has been born to you!" making him very glad. ¹⁶ And let that man be like the cities which the LORD overthrew, and did not relent; let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noon, ¹⁷ because he did not kill me from the womb, that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb always enlarged with me. ¹⁸ Why did I come forth from the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?"

When we are faced with sorrow and grief, these words might be our own as we cry out to a God we know exists and loves us.  Christians discover that at our lowest points knowledge alone is not a magic charm which ends our suffering.  If the scripture finished on this note we might wrongly assume there is not a reasonable answer to the question:  what is the point of my life anyway?  Why was a born if I would have to contend with such pain?  Thankfully, there is a real answer to this question.  God had a purpose for Jeremiah to endure sorrow, even as His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  He was despised and rejected, called "a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief." (Isaiah 53:3)  He had been sent to earth for the purpose of seeking and saving sinners through His death on the cross.  He was not disillusioned because the joy of the LORD was His strength.  He looked through the cross and knew what glorious salvation He would accomplish.

Why do we become disillusioned?  Generally this occurs when our plans and expectations are not lining up with our current reality.  We expected more and received less.  We have suffered long enough, right?  What could this painful experience be accomplishing?  Listen my friends:  more than you could possible quantify or appreciate.  I can say this based upon the authority of God's Word and the example of Jesus Christ.  Jesus suffered, did He not?  Was His suffering without meaning or purpose?  Not one stripe or piercing was without significance.  As we abide in Him all God allows us to suffer will accomplish the good purposes of God who has made us benefactors of Christ's death and resurrected life.  When we consider all Christ endured for the joy which was before Him, through the Holy Spirit we are strengthened to endure.  We may not feel like enduring - we actually may feel like quitting - but we will be given in that moment all the strength we need.

Consider the words of Paul who suffered great things for Christ's sake in 2 Corinthians 1:3-6:  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. ⁶ Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation."  Does this sound like the words of a bitter, disillusioned disciple?  Hear the words of praise of God, our LORD who is the "Father of mercies and God of all comfort."  In ALL our tribulation God is able to comfort us to the end we too can comfort others.  See how God redeems all tribulation!

There can be times where our pain is so great we do not care to be a comfort to others; we honestly cannot care about anyone's salvation but our own.  God is gracious to us even when we feel this way, embittered by our own struggles.  But know there is no darkness which can overcome the Light of the World Jesus Christ, the One who promised to send us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.  No one can comfort as profoundly and completely as He can when we trust Him.  The resurrected body of Jesus Christ is proof He overcame the power of darkness, sorrow, grief, sin, and death.  We must choose to look to Him, entrusting ourselves body and soul to His care.  In our flesh there dwells no good thing, but God is only good.  Won't you trust Him in spite of your pains?  Praise Him even now for the painful thing He is allowing in your life, for He is a Saviour and Redeemer.  David said in Psalm 42:5, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance."