Paul's second God-inspired letter to the church in Corinth begins with a reminder to praise our God of all comfort. Being no stranger to trouble, hardship and adversity, Paul reminds the Corinthian believers of the value of suffering. Affliction has more than the personal purpose it is working in us. As the unwelcomed difficulties we encounter draw us closer to the Lord, we also become an effective witness of the gospel as others watch our response to adversity and see our trust in God.
So often we ask the Lord to use us for His glory, but we don't stop to realize the invitation we are willingly extending to the Lord. This beautiful prayer of surrender often brings suffering, the instrument God uses frequently to extend the reach of our usefulness. It truly is the mountain climbs and valley lows that increase our desperation for more of Him, yet we continually set up precautions in an effort to protect ourselves from even the slightest touch of misery, missing the purpose for which suffering is intended.
Reflecting on our most memorable season of growth in the Lord, it will no doubt run parallel with the experience we most wanted to avoid. The one we prayed and cried out to God, imploring Him to please give us a pass. It was the suffocating struggle that had us clinging to the Lord that birthed fresh faith and a reliance on the Lord that changed knowing He could, to experiencing He can. Through the winds of adversity, we see more clearly the hand of God and how He is working on our behalf.
As I recall my greatest moments with God, they have come wrapped in an awareness that the road before me was completely out of my control. Absolutely nothing I could do would change the outcome, provide the shelter, give the peace, heal the disease, calm my nerves, silence my fears or enable my next breath. Only God. And, I can testify that he never failed.
Only those who have met God in the darkest of nights understand that our desire for more of Him, for greater faith, love and joy, will most likely be delivered through a transforming process of pain. God arranges and ordains suffering so that we will not rely on ourselves, using it to awaken or increase our reliance on Him.
As much as we long to avoid this truth, God's method to bless us with a deeper understanding of His presence, is often pain. We wish the path to experiencing God came some other way, but every life-changing God-moment usually involves wrestling with the unwanted. In His desire to see His children trusting Him in everything, He allows or creates situations that come crashing into our daily routines, not to crush us, but to grab out attention and pull us close to Him. Sometimes the hardship comes as protection. Our lives have started to chase other gods, and in tender, loving care His affliction causes us to remember where our only hope is found.
It is through suffering that God equips us with strength that gives evidence of His power at work in us. As He carries us through trials we imagined we could never survive, our lives give witness of the Promise-Keeper. Others see His provision and His Word being fulfilled in us and they are drawn to Him for their comfort and salvation, giving an eternal worth to each trial.
"When pain and suffering come to us, we finally see not only that we are not in control of our lives, but that we never were." (Timothy Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering)
Whatever road you are walking today, reach out and hold the hand of the One who will never leave you or forsake you. His nail-scarred hands will keep, carry and comfort you as you trust Him fully. Bear in mind, it was Christ's greatest pain that opened the door for our greatest joy.
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