Are you hurting right now, either physically, spiritually,
emotionally or mentally? What happened? Who brought this pain and suffering
into your life? Do you feel as if life is no longer worth living, or that there
is no hope for you or that you are all alone and nobody cares about you? Do you
want to end your life, because you see no way out of your predicament? We often
suffer at the hand of an evil perpetrator that inflicts his/her selfishness on
a family member, a friend or on us personally.
You may wonder why God would allow us to suffer? Well, have
you tried asking Jesus to forgive your sins and then totally surrendering your
life to Him? Your life will not turn around immediately, because you will still
reap the consequences of your past behavior. However, as you start to sow good
seed into the Holy Spirit, nurtured soil of your new life in Christ, you will
see His benefits and blessings filling up every portion of your spirit, body
and soul – your mind, will and emotions.
Many times we even suffer, because we are reaping the
results of our own poor choices. We may suffer from debt, fear of financial
collapse, unstable emotional relationships, physical ailments or wounds
inflicted on us by some one or some force in this tragic, sinful world. God
often uses suffering to draw us closer to Him, or to keep us from wandering
back into a sinful lifestyle (Job 23:10). If we suffer according to the
will of God, because we are Christians, we can commit our body, soul and spirit
to God’s safe care, because He is our faithful Father (1 Peter
4:19).
If we choose to live according to God’s Word, then He will
protect us from much of life’s suffering (Psalm 119:67, 55:7). We will
have the same testimony as the three young Hebrew men facing the fiery furnace;
or Job, when he lost his wealth, family and health in a brief instant of time (Job
13:15; 1 Timothy 6:12; Hebrews 12:1; 2 Corinthians 4). When we
fellowship in Christ’s sufferings, we draw closer to Christ’s resurrection
power in our life, even if we are put to death as He was (Philippians
3:10).
Have you ever noticed that you spend more time in prayer
during bad times than during the good times? We forget to praise the Lord for
His blessings, but we certainly have a great deal to say when something goes
wrong in our life. However, if we turn our tragedy into an opportunity to seek
God and pray, He will most assuredly deliver us (Psalm 50:15). We will
also see the fruit of His Spirit manifested in our life, as we are refined by
these fiery trials (1 Peter 4:12).
Prayer:
Father God, we want to bring glory to Your name. Sometimes,
You use our suffering to spur us to live as a testimony to the world around us.
We are living examples of the fact that You will sustain and deliver Your Saints
through every trial and tribulation (John 9:3). Remind
us to look to the eternal consequences of every situation, because the aspects
of this world are simply temporal and fleeting (2 Corinthians 4:18). Thank
You for comforting us in all of our trials, and help us to share this same
comfort with others who are going through similar circumstances (2
Corinthians 1: 4-5).
Thought for the Day:
Our suffering in this world will provide for us
an exceptionally, enormous, eternal compensation in Heaven. – 2 Corinthians
4:17
