There Is a Reason for Our Suffering

What does the scripture (Psa 23) mean when it says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”? We know that Paul did suffer want, a want that caused him to write 2 Cor.6.4-5 (note the last two words, in fastings, below):

“But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings…” (2Co 6:4-5)

Then consider what Paul wrote further into the same epistle:

“In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”

In both scriptures the context indicates Paul was not referring to “fastings” in the usual New Testament sense of voluntarily abstaining from food and water for a set length of time. The fasts to which he referred were included in his other trials of faith: he, without deliberate intent, went hungry often in his many travels.

Now how does that square with the Psalmist’s declaration that “I shall not want”? Or how can we reconcile the same scriptures (2Co 6:4-5 and 2 Cor 6.11.27) with Psa. 37.25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”? That last truth I think I can confirm on a personal level as follows:

I remember a time when I had two children living with me and my wife and grandmother-in-law on the third floor of my father’s house. One day all we had for dinner was bread and jelly sandwiches. Can you believe it? I was working and bringing money home, but it wasn’t enough. I realized I could easily have gone down to my mother and requested food (not begged; she was my mother!) She would gladly have supplied me and my household with what we “needed,” but I felt ashamed to impose on my parents’ generosity further. I was determined not to request or beg anything of them, so I prayed over the “sandwiches” – and we ate to the full.

You can believe this or not: that bread and jelly tasted really good! The kids of course liked the abstemious diet. It was like a picnic to them and even we adults did not feel deprived. The Word of God was true; He did not let His trusting servant and his family suffer hunger. Although it may not have been the fare we preferred to have, it fed us to the full – and that bread and jelly which I would have disdained at another time actually tasted excellent! Thank God for His blessings great and small.  I say “great and small” because in retrospect it does seem to have been only a slight bump in my path for the day; but at the time it seemed to be a huge jagged hole in my life that God had filled in a wondrous way and without performing a “miracle” we believers seek so fervently.

I must admit I did not always thereafter react to a glaring need in such a trusting way, but that does not invalidate what the scripture says. If we trust in God and please Him, we will not be forsaken nor have to beg for our physical needs.

Paul’s life demanded a continual trust in God for his natural needs (including his physical life) and for grace to endure the many tests and trials he had to go through. We could excuse Paul if somewhere along that very turbulent life he had mildly complained, “Lord, what is going wrong here? You called me to do a great work, yet you let my enemies, men and devils, have their way with me. I have been beaten, stoned, vilified, ostracized and even killed [from which God brought him back to life] and you stood back and let my adversaries do what they wanted with me! Why, Lord?”

Paul did not complain. The closest he came to complaining (and it was not a complaint at all) that we have on record is in his second epistle to the Corinthians in which he states,

“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, lest I should be exalted above measure.

(8)  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

(9)  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  (2Co 12:7-9)

We don’t know what the “thorn” was, but it was just another one of Paul’s troubles in a very troubled life.

God’s vocabulary differs at times from ours. There are instances when “forsake” and “love” in God’s manner of speaking have meanings unlike those they have in ours. God does not consider it to be “forsaking” us when we encounter the heat of purging and He looks on as though not hearing our frantic cries for help. He does not deem it to be turning His back on us when He stands by, doing nothing to rescue us, and He lets us be slandered and persecuted and suffer pain caused by an illness that He could heal at any time. God defines such an attitude on His part as the purest form of love.

God’s love wants and will do whatever is necessary to bring us to what He has in mind for us, and that is always for our ultimate good. He will hold us like impure silver in the terrible heat of refining until He can see His image clearly reflected in us. He will indeed “do nothing” when do nothing is needed at the time. There is a place in God; there is a soul or souls to be helped by our suffering and purging and refining; there is a more intimate relationship with Him that God wants for us and that we need; and God will not be deterred by my bellowing and pathetic cries for help until He is satisfied that I have reached the stage of perfection He wants for me at that time.

Then, after God has taken me through that seemingly unbearable situation – there will be another one not too far down the road to perfection. I have said it before and I will repeat it now: No one, saints especially, is guaranteed a life of ease. We all, saint and sinner, are under the curse of sin and God is not going to pluck us out of the curse as brands from the burning. The curse is irrevocable.

He will however reach out His mighty arm and snatch those who believe in Him from the tribulations that will come upon this earth; and He will save us from the everlasting torments of hell. But the curse of sin is a part of living, it is woven into the fabric of human life. We cannot escape it except by death. So, that being true, why do so many believers cling so avidly to this life of tumult and pain?

We need a clear vision of what lies ahead of us beyond this crucible of pain. It is difficult for some of us to see the huge, “impossible dream” life beyond this pale will be. They are the ones I have heard say, “Well, I am ready to go [and I believe them], but I don’t want to go right now.” If you ever comprehend even one thousandth of the joys and “peace like a river” that await you, you would say with me, “I do want to go as soon as possible, but only when the Lord is through with me in this life.” Frankly, it is my desire to go NOW, not tomorrow, not next month or next year, but NOW. But overriding that is what God wants to do with me.

Once again, I have essayed to write a post that I cannot finish, but I have to stop at this juncture unless I want to write a book on the subject; and I don’t think that is God’s will for me at the moment. I will sum it up by reminding you that we believers of today are no better than Jesus and the apostles and the early Christians who suffered long and endured unto death. And we have not yet suffered “unto blood in striving against sin.” The burdens that we esteem to be unbearable and the throbbing heartaches that devastate us today are necessary refining techniques for God to accept us into our heavenly home. A righteous God will not and cannot accept anything less than a perfect, righteous people. Or did you think He would put up with our failures and imperfections forever?

Take heart: There is a much better day coming in which we will forget all the pains and trials and distresses of today. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus”!

Comments

[Aaron J. Smith]

Thank you, Di, for your comment. Keep praying that I will fulfill all God's will for me.

[Diane]

Thank you. I had such a revelation from this.