Suffering Is Never for Nothing
Hard times … difficult moments … devastating circumstances … have the audacity to come to all our lives …with no advance notice and certainly no invitation.
As we encounter the wretched days of suffering … we can either be paralyzed or destroyed … or we can choose another result entirely.
Oftentimes, it is the most difficult … utterly heartbreaking … and undeserved traumatic events in life that, in retrospect, become the most beneficial.
The benefit of suffering is more glorious than you could imagine and lovelier than your deepest joy.
You see, my friend, suffering always comes with an invitation.
You are joyfully invited
To spend time with the One
Who has your name engraved upon His hands.
It is in suffering that we are invited to know Christ in His fullness … to fellowship with Him in our brokenness … and to cultivate the fruit of His Spirit even in the desert of despair.
You might wonder why God doesn’t do something about suffering.
Why doesn’t the Lord intervene and take away the torment of sickness … abuse … and tragedy?
Well … the truth is … He has intervened.
He sent Jesus to carry our sins … our grief … and our human pain on the cross of Calvary.
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:4 & 5
Jesus took what was not His and carried it on our behalf. He loved us so deeply that He suffered for us.
As the years have passed in my life … and as the pain of circumstances have become an insurmountable mountain of despair and disbelief … I have been required to embrace a theology on suffering.
Every disappointment … each tragedy … even trauma … has turned my heart toward the One who knows me best and loves me most.
Suffering has invited me into His presence … where there is always fullness of joy.
I have read a thought-provoking quote by American novelist and poet, Wendell Berry. Let me share it with you:
"Magnanimous Despair alone could show me so divine a thing ..."
Isn't it true that the greatest pain of one's life can teach the most eternal lessons?
Cancer ... infertility ... financial challenges ... depression ... have tried to paint a bleak landscape for my life.
If I had allowed it, those horrid interruptions would have placed me in the desert of despair. My world would have been monochromatic with no joy or hope to be found. I would have been a shadow of a woman … drowning in the brown sea of human anguish.
But something in me rose up ... and I was determined to learn rather than to lose.
Now ... let me be clear … I hate cancer ... I despise infertility ... I abhor financial challenges ... and I loathe depression. But I would go through them all again to be the woman I am today.
You see … through those intolerable circumstances ... I have seen the goodness of God.
I have experienced His faithfulness and His power.
I have received the gifts of defiant joy … sparkling hope … and triumphant hope.
When we offer our agony to the Lord ... as a bloody sacrifice ... it often becomes something glorious and beautiful.
I no longer fear what the circumstances of this world may do to me … because I have been in His presence, and I am forever changed.
If I am required to once again walk the lonely road of suffering and grief … I will walk it with joy knowing that it leads me to something extraordinarily good.
Trouble has made me stronger … misery has been transformed into resiliency.
“Suffering is never for nothing.” – Elisabeth Elliot
I'd love to know what you have learned from the challenges in life.
I believe ... as we observe the tenacity of others through the burdens of life ... we are encouraged to carry on with hope.
What have you learned from your pain?
In what way has despair led you to the Father?
Have you found joy on the path of suffering?
Thanks for listening to my heart this week. As you know by now, my heart is truly not a perfect heart but it is a heart that is filled to overflowing with gratitude for the life I have been given and for the people who walk with me. And, it continues to be a heart that is relentlessly chasing after God and all that He is!
Join us for the Stormproof Bible Study from September 10 to October 15, meeting weekly at 7:00 pm Central/8:00 pm Eastern via Zoom. Whether you attend live or watch the replay, this study will guide you through the storms of life by examining key biblical storms and extracting powerful life lessons. Led by Carol McLeod, you'll discover how to navigate life's fiercest gales with faith, courage, and resilience. Equip yourself with the practical wisdom and hope found in God's Word to become a voice of hope in the midst of any storm.