When
believers go through trials and tribulations, it is natural to ask God, “Why? Why
does this have to happen to me?”
In
some instances, God remains silent and fails to
grant us relief from our suffering.
When
Job was afflicted with much suffering, he did not get any clear answer from God
why the Creator had allowed him to endure such pain.
When
the apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh, he sought relief from God but
was told: “My grace is sufficient for you, for
my power is made perfect in weakness” (2
Corinthians 12:9).
God had allowed him to endure such pain in order to keep him
from being too elated over the abundance of revelations (2 Cor. 12: 7) and,
secondly, in order that the power of Christ may rest on him (2 Cor. 12:9).
Notice in
the above two instances, God had allowed Satan to have a hand in causing
affliction to these great saints.
Perhaps the
great chapter on love (1 Corinthians 13) can shed some light on this matter:
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling
reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now
is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely,
just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT).
We are never meant to know all the ways and
workings of an infinite and almighty God. And we will never have full
understanding this side of eternity as to why He allows believers to go through
pain and suffering.
For as
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts
than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). We
are like clay in the hands of the Master Potter.
Sometimes
He reveals His secrets to the prophets who are His servants (Amos 3:7). But if
He chooses not to do so, He has every right for He is sovereign. “It is the
glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings” (Proverbs 25:2).
The
purpose of suffering in the life of believers is that they might experience what
their Master had to go through and, in the process, become spiritually mature.
“Even
though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered”
(Hebrews 5:8).
“Dear brothers and
sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great
joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a
chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James
1:2-4).
In 2 Corinthians 4:8, the apostle Paul confesses, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.”
If the great apostle Paul was perplexed amid testings, we too
should not try to figure it out when we go through trials.
“For everyone praises
endurance but few are prepared to endure.” – Thomas A Kempis.
“The more his body is
reduced by suffering, the more his spirit is strengthened by inward grace.” – Thomas
A Kempis.
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