We live in a time in history when many like to think that suffering is optional.
Years ago a Canadian friend of my mom’s once told her, only half-joking, that health care in the USA was so good that death was optional. Granted, She could pay for extra care, but she had a point. We are constantly finding ways to avoid suffering.
The problem with avoiding suffering is that we can’t learn the lessons that mature us without it. Suffering is one of the best ways to learn about life and our Creator. It builds character, and if we allow it, it can fill us with God’s love.
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that 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.” Romans 5:3-5
I know this is true because I have lived it. Philippians 3 is a life passage for me. Verses 10 & 11 are in the middle of it: “that I may know him [Jesus] and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
For two or three decades I hungered for the power of his resurrection while fighting suffering. What I did not understand was that we do not really experience the power of his resurrection until we embrace the suffering. It is in the suffering where we experience the love and mercy of Jesus. The power of the resurrection is Love. God pours that love into us when we suffer, if we allow it.
I do not mean we try to suffer. I do mean that when difficult things come our way, go with it. We thank God that we are being conformed to the image of Christ, who loves us unconditionally. That happens when we allow God to meet us in the middle of it.
If we push God away in our pain, we build walls of “self-protection” that keep us from knowing God because we are hiding. But when we invite God to meet us in our trials we become softer by hiding in the shadow of His wings. We gain compassion because Jesus has suffered every form there is. He extends his resurrection power to us when we need it most. These tough circumstances actually make us stronger, not in ourselves, but we gain confidence in our God who walks with us. We begin to experience God providing for us and lifting us to see more and more from His perspective. When we realize we are infinitely loved, we are able to share that love with others in need.
Do you fight suffering? You are normal. Do you want to be supernatural? Try looking at suffering as a gift and a process that makes us more like Jesus. It is not always enjoyable, but the Comforter is near to lead the way through, and that is enjoyable.
Abba, Help me to quiet myself so I can begin to see you with me when I am in pain. How have you been with me in the past when I thought I was alone? How do you want me to view my suffering from your perspective today? By faith I invite you into my circumstances, good and bad. I long for good character, hope, freedom from shame and most of all to over flow in your love. Amen
