Lessons learned from suffering
There's another lesson we learn from suffering that's really a positive because it teaches us that obedience at all costs always results in God's blessing and it teaches us to really appreciate His blessing too. I love the way MacArthur put it here:
Reason says grab what you can grab in the world and go. Sensation and feeling say find pleasure at any price. But faith says obey the Word of God and be blessed.
....The path to blessing is often through suffering, but always through obedience.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (c1995.). The Power of Suffering
Jesus Himself is our example for this:
Hebrews 5:7–9, During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
Philippians 2:8–9, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
Jesus knew a lot of suffering while He was here this last time but He was always obedient, even when it came to allowing Himself to be tortured and killed in the most cruel and agonizing way there way to kill someone. Because He obeyed, we of course are saved, but He has been exalted to the highest position there is and received the Father's great blessings.
The OT shows us graphically how God blesses obedience, and how He punishes disobedience: Deuteronomy 28:1–13 and Deuteronomy 28:15–63 tells us all about it! Another one we can look at is Job. Remember all of his horrible trials? Yet because he was obedient and never cursed God or gave up living righteously the Lord blessed Him even more then before:
Job 42:12–17, The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.
This cute cartoon in one of my books can be a great reminder for us of what we're learning. I just fell in love with it and had to share it with you guys! Our pain, our suffering, ALWAYS has a purpose. The one we're discussing here is God's blessings when we're obedient even in the midst of suffering.
Here we’ve got “One Pea and a Tear.” But don’t worry. Thankfully, this pain is with a porpoise (Pain With a Purpose!). And this is the Keyword of 1 Peter. Peter writes to remind Christians that suffering has a purpose. The apostle to the Jews writes a letter of encouragement to those persecuted Jewish believers scattered throughout Asia Minor. The proper response to suffering becomes the theme of the epistle—and their perspective will determine their response! First, don’t be surprised at suffering. Second, count suffering as a way of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Third, make sure your suffering is for righteousness sake, not unrighteousness. There is no reward for suffering for sin! And finally, remember that you do not suffer in vain—pain has a purpose! Believers are part of a royal priesthood, born into a living hope, and our lives should reflect our royalty, even when suffering.
Keyword Learning System; Walk Through the Bible learning systems.
Another lesson we learn from suffering is to empathize with others. Empathy is much stronger then sympathy. Anyone can sympathize with someone. That just means that they feel sorry the person is going through a hard time. When we empathize with someone though it means that we too have been through the same thing so we KNOW what they're feeling. Since we've been through it ourselves, we can offer comfort that others who only sympathize can't offer no matter how much they love us. I'm sure we're all very familiar with this verse:
2 Corinthians 1:3–4, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Keep in mind when reading this that our Lord doesn't just "sympathize" with us, He empathizes with us! He KNOWS what we're going through because He's been through it too. He can comfort us like no other because of that. Plus because we belong to Him and have His Spirit within us, He can also direct us to others who we can comfort and who can comfort us. That's what He does in our private forums here!
Hebrews 2:18, Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
Yet another lesson we learn through suffering is enduring strength. Just as we have to exercise the muscles of our bodies to strengthen them, or exercise our minds to us them to our full potential, so when we suffer we become stronger spiritually. Let me share how MacArthur explains this:
God places us in difficult life situations to refine us and help us grow.
John 15:1–2, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
As we move from one trial to another, our spiritual muscles are exercised, strengthened, and become more useful. This whole process builds our spiritual endurance, which makes us all the more effective in future ministry. Remember what the Apostle James teaches us: James 1:2–4, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. The Power of Suffering
As we can see, the Lord allows suffering in our lives for many reasons, and I'm quite sure we have only scraped the surface of them here. The main things to remember when we're suffering or going through a trial is that we are in the hands of a loving God who is sovereign and that there is a purpose to what's happening to us. Let me share one more cute cartoon to help us remember this:
Keyword Learning System; Walk Through the Bible learning systems.
There's another lesson we learn from suffering that's really a positive because it teaches us that obedience at all costs always results in God's blessing and it teaches us to really appreciate His blessing too. I love the way MacArthur put it here:
Reason says grab what you can grab in the world and go. Sensation and feeling say find pleasure at any price. But faith says obey the Word of God and be blessed.
....The path to blessing is often through suffering, but always through obedience.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (c1995.). The Power of Suffering
Jesus Himself is our example for this:
Hebrews 5:7–9, During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
Philippians 2:8–9, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
Jesus knew a lot of suffering while He was here this last time but He was always obedient, even when it came to allowing Himself to be tortured and killed in the most cruel and agonizing way there way to kill someone. Because He obeyed, we of course are saved, but He has been exalted to the highest position there is and received the Father's great blessings.
The OT shows us graphically how God blesses obedience, and how He punishes disobedience: Deuteronomy 28:1–13 and Deuteronomy 28:15–63 tells us all about it! Another one we can look at is Job. Remember all of his horrible trials? Yet because he was obedient and never cursed God or gave up living righteously the Lord blessed Him even more then before:
Job 42:12–17, The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years.
This cute cartoon in one of my books can be a great reminder for us of what we're learning. I just fell in love with it and had to share it with you guys! Our pain, our suffering, ALWAYS has a purpose. The one we're discussing here is God's blessings when we're obedient even in the midst of suffering.
Here we’ve got “One Pea and a Tear.” But don’t worry. Thankfully, this pain is with a porpoise (Pain With a Purpose!). And this is the Keyword of 1 Peter. Peter writes to remind Christians that suffering has a purpose. The apostle to the Jews writes a letter of encouragement to those persecuted Jewish believers scattered throughout Asia Minor. The proper response to suffering becomes the theme of the epistle—and their perspective will determine their response! First, don’t be surprised at suffering. Second, count suffering as a way of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Third, make sure your suffering is for righteousness sake, not unrighteousness. There is no reward for suffering for sin! And finally, remember that you do not suffer in vain—pain has a purpose! Believers are part of a royal priesthood, born into a living hope, and our lives should reflect our royalty, even when suffering.
Keyword Learning System; Walk Through the Bible learning systems.
Another lesson we learn from suffering is to empathize with others. Empathy is much stronger then sympathy. Anyone can sympathize with someone. That just means that they feel sorry the person is going through a hard time. When we empathize with someone though it means that we too have been through the same thing so we KNOW what they're feeling. Since we've been through it ourselves, we can offer comfort that others who only sympathize can't offer no matter how much they love us. I'm sure we're all very familiar with this verse:
2 Corinthians 1:3–4, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Keep in mind when reading this that our Lord doesn't just "sympathize" with us, He empathizes with us! He KNOWS what we're going through because He's been through it too. He can comfort us like no other because of that. Plus because we belong to Him and have His Spirit within us, He can also direct us to others who we can comfort and who can comfort us. That's what He does in our private forums here!
Hebrews 2:18, Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
Yet another lesson we learn through suffering is enduring strength. Just as we have to exercise the muscles of our bodies to strengthen them, or exercise our minds to us them to our full potential, so when we suffer we become stronger spiritually. Let me share how MacArthur explains this:
God places us in difficult life situations to refine us and help us grow.
John 15:1–2, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
As we move from one trial to another, our spiritual muscles are exercised, strengthened, and become more useful. This whole process builds our spiritual endurance, which makes us all the more effective in future ministry. Remember what the Apostle James teaches us: James 1:2–4, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. The Power of Suffering
As we can see, the Lord allows suffering in our lives for many reasons, and I'm quite sure we have only scraped the surface of them here. The main things to remember when we're suffering or going through a trial is that we are in the hands of a loving God who is sovereign and that there is a purpose to what's happening to us. Let me share one more cute cartoon to help us remember this:
Keyword Learning System; Walk Through the Bible learning systems.
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