Some of us have been tought that pain and suffering comes from the Devil and since God wants his servants to be well and free of pain, Pain and Suffering must be of the Devil and HEALING and Happiness are of the Lord. This Sounds great. The problem is, it's neither true nor Biblical. The Devil is not always responsible for the pain and suffering in our lives. You may be surprised to know that God sometimes uses Pain and Suffering to prepare us, as useful servants. He KNOWS what is Best FOR US, in light of what he is doing In US.
Suffering from God's Perspective is lost here in the United States. We have become addicted to our comfort, so our idea of suffering is a bit shaky. I bet if you were to ask someone like brother Timothy Ogodus from the Phillipines what the biggest defect with Christians in America was he'd probably say, "that American's have an inadequate view of suffering." As soon as we are out of our Comfort Zone for even a short amount of time, we groan about it. I wanna take some time to look at Saul from Tarsus, and how the Lord used Suffering to prepare him to be a useful servant. Noticably, I will interchange the name Saul with Paul Quite often here. Forgive me.
Rarely did a day go by that Saul did not encounter pain and/or suffering. Thankfully, he doesn't keep his experiences to himself and shares them with us in the Scriptures. Go to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 with me. This Book is the most Auto-biographical of all of Paul's writings.The depth of emotion in this letter is powerful and inciteful. Let's glimpse at a few passages here, READ -2 Corinthians 1:3-4- In other words, specific pain enables us to comfort others specifically. If a mother has lost a Child, God may use her to comfort another mother whom goes through the same ordeal. If a brother or sister has been divorced, who better is suited for comfort than one whom has over come the specific burden of divorce through Christ? That is how God Works. Move on to READ- verse 8. Saul, the man whom God Used so Mightily, despaired Life. Did you get that? At times Saul suffered so much from deep depression, he no longer wanted to live, but GOD held him together. READ- verse 9, Saul is telling us, in his Despair for Life he LEARNED TO TRUST and God showed him his remarkable power. The SAME power that HE used to raise his Son JESUS CHRIST from the Grave!
Jump with me to READ- 2 Corinthians 4:8-11. Persecuted, Afflicted, Crushed and Struck Down. That was his Life in a nutshell. Read or write these passages down. 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 2 Corinth. 11:23-27 If you cannot see and feel the GROANING by Saul, well.... you read to quickly. He is telling us that he has developed his theology of pain, through the many struggles of his daily life. He knew First Hand what it meant to be, mistreated, forsaken, forgotten, abused, maligned, shipwrecked, attacked, starved, inprisoned and to be left for dead. Remarkably, despite the amount of suffering, he chose not to BOAST in his Grit, Courage, Stamina or Emotional Stability. He testifies to none of that. Instead he confesses, In Verse 30 of Chapter 11 "If I Must Glory (or boast) I will Glory in my infirmities." Boasting in Weakness?? This is definitely not a common practice in this country. Especially among Christians. Today, if you were to Boast of your weaknesses, Christians would tell you that you are not walking in the Spirit. Surely a Christian suffering in that degree of adversity would not be walking with the Lord. NOT TRUE! Certainly not true in the case of Saul. He had learned to GLORY in suffering. Without retaining in his soul, blame or bitterness toward the Lord. How?
With all of the abuse and afflictions that he suffered, why didn't he retaliate? I believe we can find that answer in the following passages. READ 2 Corinthians 12:1-4. What a remarkable piece of Scripture. Paul realizes He Cannot Explain Everything, yet he doesnt hold back the truth. Rather than trying to explain the Unexplainable, he admits... "I don't KNOW." Let us examine 4 observations about this particular confession of Paul, the Apostle. I find this passage one of the most mysterious passages in the Bible.
1- He is writing about himself. He calls himself, "such a man." Only the one who experienced the event, could know such details. He describes a time and a place. He PERSONALLY went through it.
2- He is Certain of his Location, but UnCertain of his Orientation. He calls the place "the third heaven." and in verse 4 he gets more specific by calling this place, paradise. This suggests the very presence of God. Still, he was uncertain of his orientation. Whether he was in the body or not. This must have eclipsed any awareness of the physical realm. Somehow, he was transported beyond the limitations of space and time and directly was in the presence of the Lord.
3- This experience Happened suddenly. Twice he says he was caught up, suggesting a swift rapture, not a gradual ascend. He suddenly found himself in God's Third Heaven.
4- What he heard and witnessed, mere words could not express. He struggled to put it into words, but he fully understood what had happened. This supernatural experience fortified him for service admist the most intense periods of suffering. This was all part of God's unique preparation for Saul. If you or I or even many, if not all of the other Apostles had experienced such a revelation, our pride would consume us! Any normal human would express Spiritual Conceit of the worst magnitute. Could you imagine bearing that sort of priviledged burden? God Understood that pride is an enormous attribute that we all carry. So he had a solution for Paul.
"A thorn in the Flesh" 2 Corinthians 12:7 says "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lets I should be exalted above measure." He not only understood the nature of the Thorn, he Grasped the reason for it. To ensure a humble spirit. After the Glory of the revelation, came the groaning. This agony of the thorn would accompany him for the rest of his Earthly life. It doesn't matter what this Thorn REALLY is, there is much speculation about that, but the man who endured it called it "Satan's Messenger." The enemy used it to try and cause the Apostle to retreat from his calling. God used it to keep his servant on his knees. Remember, pride doesn't exist in the hearts of the broken. The broken, is humbled to the point of dispair.
Paul Prayed to the Lord Three Times to Please Remove this Thorn! vs 8 We would have done the same. The world needs more followers of Christ to embrace pains and hardships rather than deny them. Hell, helpful for us to see that all of this is God's plan to keep us humble. The harsh reality of life should make us become a more prayerful people, and to fully lean on the Lord. God's Grace Will Not Let Go! Saul begged the Lord again and again to relieve him of this thorn. What was God's answer? No. He did not remove the thorn, but he offered something so much Greater than that, Sufficient Grace. He told Saul in verse 9, "My Grace is Sufficient for You for MY strength is made Perfect in Weakness" Understand this, it is not always God's Will that you be healed! It is not always his plan to relieve the pressure! Our Happiness is not God's main concern! He doesn't have a comfortable life from a human perspective lined up for you, just because you ask for it. Remember, God's long term plan for us, individually is to shape us more and more into the image of his son. Thankfully, we have Scripture to comfort us in our tribulations that "His Grace Is Sufficient For Us!" Strength is perfected in Weakness. In America we are taught that we get stronger as we achieve more and more in life. This is so wrong! Achievement Does Not Make Us Stronger. Our Achievements make us Proud, Self-Sufficient, Independant, and Arrogant. It is the Painful Thorns that Make us Weak, and when WE are Weak, God Pours His Strength into us, which gives an entirely different perspective on Pain and Suffering. Those Hardships Drive us to our Knees! That is when Our God Comes Through! Stop Looking for Someone or Something to Blame for our Problems!
Suffering is not about identifying the Cause, it is about Focusing on the Response. Do Not Miss that. Again, Suffering is not about identifying the Cause, it is about Focusing on the Response. It is about Willingly accepting God's Plan no matter what the circumstance. It is about finding Contemptment in God's GRACE. We would rather be skeptical than Submissive. I heard about the old saint who asked, "Lord when will my tribulations halt?" God Replies, "My Child that is how I prove my friends." Then the old saint answers, "Lord, Perhaps that is why you have so few of them." God's Goal is not to make sure that you are Happy. It is time for you to believe and understand that. Life is not about you being comfortable, Happy and Successful with out any pain. It is about becoming the Man or Woman that God is Calling you to be. Read vs 9-10 ... Stop focusing on your Handicaps and Appreciate the Gift! Christ's strength will move in on your weaknesses. Take your limitations in stride and just let Christ take over. With Christ, the weaker you get, the stronger you become! When You and I boast of our Strengths We get the Credit and just keep going under our own head of steam. When we Boast in what He is doing in the mist of our inabilities and inadequacy, Christ comes to the front. Bring your Glory Down and Exhault the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! We must Decrease and he must Increase!Resist the temptation to re-think God just because hard times come. Look Deeper, Cling to him tighter. Refuse to question his motives. He is doing something great within you.
Realize that even in the injustice of it all, the suffering that you endure can ultimately turn to your benefit. God is Working. Only he knows the End from the Beginning. He knows your needs far better than you do. Don't ask, "Why is this happening to me?" Instead ask, "How should I respond?" Lest you do this, you will never understand the beneficial role of suffering. Remember, Christ's Strength is made perfect, in your Weakness. His Grace Is Sufficient for You.
Since this is the Apologetics forum, I want to include the following....
I hope that the post will be useful to many. I pray that someone, even if were only one, would use this post as edification to help them better understand God's Plan. Many believe that our loving God would not let any of us Suffer.... But the Bible clearly states that THIS is how we know that he Loves Us.
There are many different words and phrases in which the Bible speaks of when dealing with Suffering, Pain, Testing, Tribulation, etc., But I will only use one word for this case. Chastening. Before I begin I want to clarify that the only reason that ANY of these forms of misery are in our lives is because of MAN's SIN. So, with that in mind, the Bible still speaks of Suffering, Pain, Testing, Tribulation, etc., being used to shape us more into the likeness of Christ.
First, Let's use the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary to look up the word:
Chastening
1 : to correct by punishment or suffering : discipline; also : purify
2 a : to prune (as a work or style of art) of excess, pretense, or falsity : refine b : to cause to be more humble or restrained : subdue
Now I want to take only a few passages out of the Bible.... (too many to list here)
Old Testament:
Proverbs 3:11,12- "]My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD: Neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth: Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."
Psalm 94:12,13- "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, And teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, Until the pit be digged for the wicked."
Psalm 119:71- "It is good for me that I have been afflicted: That I might learn thy statutes."
Deut. 8:2-5- God Disciplined His son Israel by testing the nation in the wilderness 40 years.
Other Texts excluding the ones that I used in the original post from the
New Testament:
Hebrews 12:5-8 "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye sweethearts, and not sons."
If God stops Chastening us, we have a serious PROBLEM...
Suffering from God's Perspective is lost here in the United States. We have become addicted to our comfort, so our idea of suffering is a bit shaky. I bet if you were to ask someone like brother Timothy Ogodus from the Phillipines what the biggest defect with Christians in America was he'd probably say, "that American's have an inadequate view of suffering." As soon as we are out of our Comfort Zone for even a short amount of time, we groan about it. I wanna take some time to look at Saul from Tarsus, and how the Lord used Suffering to prepare him to be a useful servant. Noticably, I will interchange the name Saul with Paul Quite often here. Forgive me.
Rarely did a day go by that Saul did not encounter pain and/or suffering. Thankfully, he doesn't keep his experiences to himself and shares them with us in the Scriptures. Go to 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 with me. This Book is the most Auto-biographical of all of Paul's writings.The depth of emotion in this letter is powerful and inciteful. Let's glimpse at a few passages here, READ -2 Corinthians 1:3-4- In other words, specific pain enables us to comfort others specifically. If a mother has lost a Child, God may use her to comfort another mother whom goes through the same ordeal. If a brother or sister has been divorced, who better is suited for comfort than one whom has over come the specific burden of divorce through Christ? That is how God Works. Move on to READ- verse 8. Saul, the man whom God Used so Mightily, despaired Life. Did you get that? At times Saul suffered so much from deep depression, he no longer wanted to live, but GOD held him together. READ- verse 9, Saul is telling us, in his Despair for Life he LEARNED TO TRUST and God showed him his remarkable power. The SAME power that HE used to raise his Son JESUS CHRIST from the Grave!
Jump with me to READ- 2 Corinthians 4:8-11. Persecuted, Afflicted, Crushed and Struck Down. That was his Life in a nutshell. Read or write these passages down. 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 2 Corinth. 11:23-27 If you cannot see and feel the GROANING by Saul, well.... you read to quickly. He is telling us that he has developed his theology of pain, through the many struggles of his daily life. He knew First Hand what it meant to be, mistreated, forsaken, forgotten, abused, maligned, shipwrecked, attacked, starved, inprisoned and to be left for dead. Remarkably, despite the amount of suffering, he chose not to BOAST in his Grit, Courage, Stamina or Emotional Stability. He testifies to none of that. Instead he confesses, In Verse 30 of Chapter 11 "If I Must Glory (or boast) I will Glory in my infirmities." Boasting in Weakness?? This is definitely not a common practice in this country. Especially among Christians. Today, if you were to Boast of your weaknesses, Christians would tell you that you are not walking in the Spirit. Surely a Christian suffering in that degree of adversity would not be walking with the Lord. NOT TRUE! Certainly not true in the case of Saul. He had learned to GLORY in suffering. Without retaining in his soul, blame or bitterness toward the Lord. How?
With all of the abuse and afflictions that he suffered, why didn't he retaliate? I believe we can find that answer in the following passages. READ 2 Corinthians 12:1-4. What a remarkable piece of Scripture. Paul realizes He Cannot Explain Everything, yet he doesnt hold back the truth. Rather than trying to explain the Unexplainable, he admits... "I don't KNOW." Let us examine 4 observations about this particular confession of Paul, the Apostle. I find this passage one of the most mysterious passages in the Bible.
1- He is writing about himself. He calls himself, "such a man." Only the one who experienced the event, could know such details. He describes a time and a place. He PERSONALLY went through it.
2- He is Certain of his Location, but UnCertain of his Orientation. He calls the place "the third heaven." and in verse 4 he gets more specific by calling this place, paradise. This suggests the very presence of God. Still, he was uncertain of his orientation. Whether he was in the body or not. This must have eclipsed any awareness of the physical realm. Somehow, he was transported beyond the limitations of space and time and directly was in the presence of the Lord.
3- This experience Happened suddenly. Twice he says he was caught up, suggesting a swift rapture, not a gradual ascend. He suddenly found himself in God's Third Heaven.
4- What he heard and witnessed, mere words could not express. He struggled to put it into words, but he fully understood what had happened. This supernatural experience fortified him for service admist the most intense periods of suffering. This was all part of God's unique preparation for Saul. If you or I or even many, if not all of the other Apostles had experienced such a revelation, our pride would consume us! Any normal human would express Spiritual Conceit of the worst magnitute. Could you imagine bearing that sort of priviledged burden? God Understood that pride is an enormous attribute that we all carry. So he had a solution for Paul.
"A thorn in the Flesh" 2 Corinthians 12:7 says "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lets I should be exalted above measure." He not only understood the nature of the Thorn, he Grasped the reason for it. To ensure a humble spirit. After the Glory of the revelation, came the groaning. This agony of the thorn would accompany him for the rest of his Earthly life. It doesn't matter what this Thorn REALLY is, there is much speculation about that, but the man who endured it called it "Satan's Messenger." The enemy used it to try and cause the Apostle to retreat from his calling. God used it to keep his servant on his knees. Remember, pride doesn't exist in the hearts of the broken. The broken, is humbled to the point of dispair.
Paul Prayed to the Lord Three Times to Please Remove this Thorn! vs 8 We would have done the same. The world needs more followers of Christ to embrace pains and hardships rather than deny them. Hell, helpful for us to see that all of this is God's plan to keep us humble. The harsh reality of life should make us become a more prayerful people, and to fully lean on the Lord. God's Grace Will Not Let Go! Saul begged the Lord again and again to relieve him of this thorn. What was God's answer? No. He did not remove the thorn, but he offered something so much Greater than that, Sufficient Grace. He told Saul in verse 9, "My Grace is Sufficient for You for MY strength is made Perfect in Weakness" Understand this, it is not always God's Will that you be healed! It is not always his plan to relieve the pressure! Our Happiness is not God's main concern! He doesn't have a comfortable life from a human perspective lined up for you, just because you ask for it. Remember, God's long term plan for us, individually is to shape us more and more into the image of his son. Thankfully, we have Scripture to comfort us in our tribulations that "His Grace Is Sufficient For Us!" Strength is perfected in Weakness. In America we are taught that we get stronger as we achieve more and more in life. This is so wrong! Achievement Does Not Make Us Stronger. Our Achievements make us Proud, Self-Sufficient, Independant, and Arrogant. It is the Painful Thorns that Make us Weak, and when WE are Weak, God Pours His Strength into us, which gives an entirely different perspective on Pain and Suffering. Those Hardships Drive us to our Knees! That is when Our God Comes Through! Stop Looking for Someone or Something to Blame for our Problems!
Suffering is not about identifying the Cause, it is about Focusing on the Response. Do Not Miss that. Again, Suffering is not about identifying the Cause, it is about Focusing on the Response. It is about Willingly accepting God's Plan no matter what the circumstance. It is about finding Contemptment in God's GRACE. We would rather be skeptical than Submissive. I heard about the old saint who asked, "Lord when will my tribulations halt?" God Replies, "My Child that is how I prove my friends." Then the old saint answers, "Lord, Perhaps that is why you have so few of them." God's Goal is not to make sure that you are Happy. It is time for you to believe and understand that. Life is not about you being comfortable, Happy and Successful with out any pain. It is about becoming the Man or Woman that God is Calling you to be. Read vs 9-10 ... Stop focusing on your Handicaps and Appreciate the Gift! Christ's strength will move in on your weaknesses. Take your limitations in stride and just let Christ take over. With Christ, the weaker you get, the stronger you become! When You and I boast of our Strengths We get the Credit and just keep going under our own head of steam. When we Boast in what He is doing in the mist of our inabilities and inadequacy, Christ comes to the front. Bring your Glory Down and Exhault the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! We must Decrease and he must Increase!Resist the temptation to re-think God just because hard times come. Look Deeper, Cling to him tighter. Refuse to question his motives. He is doing something great within you.
Realize that even in the injustice of it all, the suffering that you endure can ultimately turn to your benefit. God is Working. Only he knows the End from the Beginning. He knows your needs far better than you do. Don't ask, "Why is this happening to me?" Instead ask, "How should I respond?" Lest you do this, you will never understand the beneficial role of suffering. Remember, Christ's Strength is made perfect, in your Weakness. His Grace Is Sufficient for You.
Since this is the Apologetics forum, I want to include the following....
I hope that the post will be useful to many. I pray that someone, even if were only one, would use this post as edification to help them better understand God's Plan. Many believe that our loving God would not let any of us Suffer.... But the Bible clearly states that THIS is how we know that he Loves Us.
There are many different words and phrases in which the Bible speaks of when dealing with Suffering, Pain, Testing, Tribulation, etc., But I will only use one word for this case. Chastening. Before I begin I want to clarify that the only reason that ANY of these forms of misery are in our lives is because of MAN's SIN. So, with that in mind, the Bible still speaks of Suffering, Pain, Testing, Tribulation, etc., being used to shape us more into the likeness of Christ.
First, Let's use the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary to look up the word:
Chastening
1 : to correct by punishment or suffering : discipline; also : purify
2 a : to prune (as a work or style of art) of excess, pretense, or falsity : refine b : to cause to be more humble or restrained : subdue
Now I want to take only a few passages out of the Bible.... (too many to list here)
Old Testament:
Proverbs 3:11,12- "]My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD: Neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth: Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth."
Psalm 94:12,13- "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, And teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, Until the pit be digged for the wicked."
Psalm 119:71- "It is good for me that I have been afflicted: That I might learn thy statutes."
Deut. 8:2-5- God Disciplined His son Israel by testing the nation in the wilderness 40 years.
Other Texts excluding the ones that I used in the original post from the
New Testament:
Hebrews 12:5-8 "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye sweethearts, and not sons."
If God stops Chastening us, we have a serious PROBLEM...
