The Purposes Of Suffering- Part 1

A man who endures trials is blessed, because when he passes the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
James 1:12 (HCSB)

I once had an agnostic friend ask me not to pray for him. He meant it tongue in cheek I suppose, but he said he didn’t want God’s attention drawn to him. I’m afraid he had it all backwards if he thought that God not noticing him was a good thing.

But on the other hand, I have to admit that when I read the first two chapters of the book of Job, sometimes I’m tempted to think it might be wise not to serve God too faithfully, lest He notice me and decide to brag on me to Satan. Their conversations about Job lead to terrible suffering (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6). And if Job was so very faithful, why did God allow him to go through all that? Just to make a fool out of Satan? Well, maybe so.

People often ask why an all-loving, all-powerful God would allow the righteous to suffer. Sometimes they ask as if they’ve already decided there is no answer. There is an answer. There is a long answer, which I’d like to discuss over the next few weeks. But there is also a short answer. Suffering is a result of sin. Before sin, in the Garden of Eden, there was no suffering. But we aren’t living in Eden. We are in a world very much marked and marred by sin. While there are many variations on how it occurs, suffering is caused by sin.

However, knowing that suffering is the general result of sin leads many to the incorrect conclusion that suffering is always a punishment for sin. Jesus’s disciples made this assumption in John 9 about the man born blind. But Jesus explained, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him,” (John 9:3).

Many years earlier, Job’s friends had made the same mistake. They were sure Job must have sinned to bring upon himself such calamity. Job knew he had been faithful to God, and yet, though the two of them discussed the situation at length, God never told Job about the conversation with Satan that had started it all. Rather God reminded Job of His sovereignty and basically said, Job, you’re just going to have to trust Me.

Job’s sufferings were a test of his faith, but more than that, by “passing” the test, Job unknowingly worked with God to put Satan in his place. What if WE could do that with our faithfulness through trials? What if we could give God a victory over Satan? He certainly doesn’t need our help in order to be victorious, but perhaps in our suffering God invites us to participate in the great spiritual battle that goes on unseen by human eyes. What if, like the blind man whose eyes were opened by Jesus, the works of God could be revealed in us?

The blind man was blind for 40 years not knowing the great moment of deliverance that was planned for him. Job did not know that when it was all over, he would be blessed even more than he had been blessed before. Even though we don’t know what the outcome of our specific trials will be, we do know how the story ends. God rewards faithfulness, and some day He will reward it permanently and eternally. We don’t have to understand it all. We just have to be faithful.

There is no avoiding suffering in this life and there is no wisdom in trying to avoid God’s gaze. If I must suffer, let me respond in such a way that God can use it, can throw it in Satan’s face as if to say, See! I told you she was one of Mine! Thus may my suffering become a humble offering, a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1), to be laid at the foot of the cross where He laid down His life for me.

A man who endures trials is blessed, because when he passes the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.  --James 1:12 (HCSB)

Dear God, sometimes things happen that just hurt so much! Please remind me that You see and that You care and that You will always bless faithfulness. Help me to accept that this is not a perfect world but that You are a perfect God who uses even the hard things to bring about perfection in Your good time. I look forward to that perfect eternal home with You. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

by Christie Cole Atkins

Related Reading:

The Purposes Of Suffering — Part Two