“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT)
For much the same reason we need sunshine and rain, we need good times and bad, joy and laughter, heartache, and pain. Think of the life of Jesus. May I remind you that He was perfect in every way; God poured into human flesh, yet He hung on a Cross for crimes He didn’t commit to pay the penalty for our sin and free us from a life of bondage to sin.
To serve Jesus doesn’t exempt us from pain and suffering. If anything, it intensifies it. To sign up with Jesus to avoid suffering is a little bit like booking passage on the Titanic to see the world. You’re going to be sorely disappointed.
Think of the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:1-2: “Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in His kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.”
How can that be? In our way of thinking “very poor” and “rich generosity” don’t belong in the same sentence. But it gets better! Did you notice who orchestrated this bazaar circumstance? Paul’s rich insight notes “what God in His kindness has done…” It may seem odd, but I often thank the Lord that He never allowed me to make very much money. I always had enough, but there were times of severe struggle. Why?
God opened my heart and eyes to the needs of others who are now like I was then. God always made a way for me. I missed a few meals, but He always sent someone at the right time to meet the exact need with which I was struggling. I love what J. C. Ryle wrote: “Trials are intended to make us think; to wean us from the world; to send us to the Bible; to drive us to our knees.”
That’s what they did and do for me, and I pray they are doing for you. Do you realize it’s impossible to trust God, to build faith and confidence in Him if you’re constantly blaming Him for the trials and troubles of your life? Trials and troubles, by the way, that Jesus promised us we would have? Remember what He said in John 16:33: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Notice He didn’t say “might” or “maybe,” He said “will!” But why? To be mean and vindictive? To get back at us for all our sin; our part in why He had to hang on the Cross? Of course not! God doesn’t think like us, and His character wouldn’t allow Him to act like that. Everything He has ever done or ever will do is motivated by a heart of love.
We suffer, not to make us bitter, but to make us better. I pray I’m a better man for having suffered in ways I would never have chosen for myself. My heart longs for God more, I desire to know and share His word more, I want to share materially whatever I can with whomever I can to meet the needs of those who are just now learning the lessons God has been teaching me through my trials.
We all have seasons of life when we’re struggling in one way or another to find our way, seeking to discover the person God intends for us to be. We may not even know Him when we’re clawing and scratching to survive, but often the very trials that we hated while we were in them are the very trials we wouldn’t trade for anything because they resulted in our finding ourselves, at last, in Him!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 