Suffering in the Will

Something has come to my attention, a particular popular doctrine, that is good and encouraging, but is incomplete in its teaching. This is going to be a hard topic to swallow, especially for those of us who are raised in the American Culture of ease and consumerism, because all of us, to one extent or another, do not want to suffer in anyway.

Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing: we don’t want to suffer because it is uncomfortable, painful, and can be extremely life-altering; and some suffering does not even hint at being productive in our lives. It can be extremely difficult to see the “good” in trials when you suffer a miscarriage or your child is killed in a tragic accident, when you are diagnosed with advanced cancer, when your son or daughter comes home and tells you he or she is a homosexual, drug-addict, or pregnant, or when you learn that your spouse has been having an affair and wants a divorce. Nothing about these situations is good at their onset! Hardships like these are direct consequences of the Fall of man; however, let us consider something. If God knows all, is all powerful, and is always present, wouldn’t He have previously known that the Fall would happen? Was He powerless to prevent it? Was it against His will that sin entered the world?

I have noticed that, a lot of times, we are so quick to suggest that suffering is not in God’s will for our lives. But this cannot be accurate if we take a closer look at who He is. To say that difficulties and trials are not in His will is to limit His sovereignty. It is to say that God has no control over our tragedies, that He was caught by surprise when our difficulty emerged. But God, the Almighty Everlasting Father of the Universe cannot be without the power or knowledge to know or do anything about suffering.

My challenge to you today is to take a step out of your beliefs regarding suffering, and step up to a wider perspective, which is from God’s vantage point.

Observe the following passage:

“Yet it was the LORD's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the LORD makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” (Isa. 53:10)

Now this is an interesting statement: Naturally, this is talking about Jesus and His crucifixion, but let’s just ponder what the verse is suggesting. It begins by saying, basically, that it was God’s will for this Servant, His Son, to suffer. That doesn’t sound very consistent with a God of love, does it? How could God “desire” His Servant to suffer? Look at the verses in another translation:

“But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief…” (NASB)

It pleased God to allow His Child to suffer? Wow; but why? We have to be very careful when we read this verse because we may take it to the extreme that God delights in causing His children harm. Let’s combat that with another verse:

“Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion.” (Isa. 30:18)

This verse clearly states that God is full of compassion and mercy, longing to bestow His love and tenderness on His children. So granted, the Lord is not “out to get” people and cause them to suffer. However, as the first passage suggests, sometimes, it is God’s will for suffering to take place in our lives. Look at the next part of Isa. 53:10

“…though the LORD makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand.”(53:10b,c)

Now this suggests that the suffering has a purpose, doesn’t it? “Though the Son was caused to suffer), the Son would see a better end.” (paraphrase) The Lord desired the Son to suffer because He saw something on the other side of the suffering, which could only be reached if Jesus went through the pain of His sacrifice. What was on the other side? Prosperity, effectiveness in God’s Kingdom, honor, fame, fullness of life! Christ would see the essence of Paul’s statement to the Corinthians:

“…we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Cor. 4:16-17)

Paul is inferring here that there is something far beyond our wildest dreams after our suffering is complete. Jesus saw it:

“Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God…” (Heb. 12:2)

Does this mean that Jesus liked the suffering? NO! The Bible says that He wept bitterly, sweating great drops of blood when His Father in Heaven led Him to be crucified. He pleaded with the Father to find another way…but there was not other way. There was no other way for God to establish His Son to obtain His full purpose unless He went through the shame, suffering, and death. The Lord knew the ultimate purpose for His Son, to reign above all heaven and earth, and He longed for Jesus to “get there;” but that meant Jesus had to endure hardship first.

This illustration is an obvious one. In fact, in referring to Jesus’s pain and hardship, many fellow brothers and sisters in Christ have suggested that Christ did all the suffering for us so that we won’t have to endure it. To some extent, they are right.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isa. 53:5)

Yes, this does express that there are some aspects of the hardships in this life that Christ came to deliver us from. I believe that God desires to heal us of our brokenness, emotionally, physically, and especially spiritually. That is the essence of what this verse is saying. But to say that this verse means that all our suffering will be eliminated because it’s not God’s will is taking it a little too far. Jesus promised that we would have trouble and persecution in this world (Jn. 16:33). It is the nature of this life at the present. Moreover, Jesus did not exclude His servants from suffering while they were right smack dab in the middle of God’s will either.

· Stephen was stoned (Acts 7:54-60)
· James was beheaded (Acts 12:2)
· Peter was crucified upside down (Jn. 21:19)
· John was exiled on the Isle of Patmos (Rev. 1:9)
· All the other disciples were imprisoned, tortured, and martyred (Heb. 11:37-39)
· Paul suffered all kinds of torment and persecution for his faith (2 Cor. 6:3-13)
· Paul even had a thorn, which the Lord refused to remove (2 Cor. 12:6-10)

Could the Lord have prevented these things from happening or intervened in the process? ABSOLUTELY! But He chose not to for reasons that only He can comprehend.

Notice how I inserted Paul’s thorn in his side. I don’t want you to think that it is only God’s will that we suffer persecution and that no other suffering is permitted. This isn’t an accurate depiction of the whole of Scripture. Consider Job. Why did the Lord present him, this righteous man, to the devil and allow the enemy to ransack everything that Job held dear? Let me propose something…how many of you have been encouraged by Job’s story? Would Job have even been known to you had his life not been subject to so much pain and agony? Probably not. His story of wealth and righteousness might never have even been written down. But what is so encouraging? The fact that he suffered? NO! It’s the joy on the other side, God’s redemption of all that he lost, where we find so much encouragement to continue running this race of life!

And his hardships are not the only stories that encourage us. Joseph, Ruth, David, and countless others, all of their stories, their lives, consist of heartache, pain, dismay, and torment…but what happens in the end of each of them? The Lord brings them into a place of glory that they could never have imagined! Joseph would never have ruled Egypt if he had not been betrayed; Ruth could never have been redeemed by Boaz if she had not been widowed, and David would never have been king unless he was placed into a hostile working environment. These men and women went through years of confusion, loss, pain, depression, and anxiety. Years of emotional torment and fear. They all suffered greatly, but they were still in God’s will! Why? Because He saw where He was taking them…and He promised to take them through to get to that place.

Ok, some of you might be thinking, “Well, that’s great Jenness, but what would someone like you know about suffering? You don’t know what I’m going through and you can’t relate to my situation.” I’m not going to argue with that—in fact, it is true that I cannot in any way possibly know exactly what you’re going through and feel what you are feeling. But I can tell you; I do know what is means to suffer.

I have suffered rejection and persecution for my faith; I have been betrayed and wrongfully accused, judged, and deserted. But what’s more: some of you may know that I have a condition called adrenal insufficiency—an illness that has ripped 6 years of my life away. I have suffered relentless physical pain, incessant nausea, and unending frailty to the point that I could not even walk on my own. I have been all over the States, visiting countless doctors who’d accuse me, spiritual leaders condemn me, and even myself wonder at my own sanity. I will not go into great details about my illness, but I can tell you that my life has been completely turned upside down from what it used to be as a result of suffering.

Despite it all, never once did I question God’s love for me. Why? Because I know Him, and that He is doing something. When tragedy strikes, I refer to His promise; when depression hits, I cling for His faithfulness; when everything seems to fail, I reach for His strength. I know God is faithful! I know that He will redeem my life and that my latter days will be greater than these light and momentary days of affliction. How do I know? Because what He did for Jesus, He can do for me! What He did for Job, Joseph, Ruth, David, He can do for me also. And what He can and will do for me, He can and will do for you too!

Don’t reject the suffering as if it isn’t God’s will. Don’t question His power and His sovereignty in the process of your refinement. God loves you; He wants to do great things in and through you; and He will, by bringing you to that place: on the other side of your suffering.