Steve Estes once said that “God permits what He hates to accomplish what He loves”. God permits suffering so that we don’t understand, and may never understand, for Him to draw us closer to Him; to sit with Him and pray for guidance, for endurance in the suffering and for grace to walk with God and trust that He is and will get us through the suffering.
Romans 8:18 says, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
As Christians, we can’t explain why there is suffering BUT we can turn to God’s word and look at what He says we can do to glorify Him and trust Him. This verse could be interpreted in various forms, such as suffering for Christ, suffering physically, suffering mentally…
We can take 3 things from this verse in God’s word, in the sufferings of the physical and mental form…
We will have joy through our suffering.
John 16:33 says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” As Christians, God has told us that we will suffer, BUT through grief and suffering comes joy (John 16:20). God has promised throughout scripture that He is always with His children and He will continue to refine us to we either are called home or He returns. But in the end, ultimately, we will see the glory revealed to us in Heaven. Our sufferings will have a purpose and we will see Jesus, face to face, amongst all of those throughout the ages who suffered, such as Paul the apostle, King David, Charles Spurgeon and D. L. Moody.
We will suffer temporarily compared to our permanent status in Heaven.
From this verse, we know that glory means everlasting life in Heaven (John 3:16); we glorify God on earth through praise and worship, but in Heaven, we will have experience the greatest form of praise and worship. This includes being all be put past all pain, all suffering, all sin, which is temporary on earth (this doesn’t mean we should stop praying for God to take the pain, the suffering and the sin away because the Lord loves to hear our prayers - 2 Chronicles 7:14), and remembering that our final destination, Heaven, will be our permanent home and our temporary sufferings will be gone and we will be permanently joyful in Heaven (Revelation 21:4). What a great thought!
We will see God’s glory at the end of it all.
God promises that “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). Even in this life, our sufferings and weaknesses are strengthened through God and His grace (1 Peter 5:10). In God’s word, He describes suffering and pain as “light affliction” not because He does not understand why it is like to suffer - read the Four Gospels as well as other books in the Bible and know that Jesus suffered, bled and died for us; God knew that our lives are like a speck, if even, compared to the “eternal weight of glory” that awaits us.
Let your first thoughts of the day be God.
Pray to Him.
Thank Him for these temporary sufferings because in the end, God’s glory outweighs it all.
Let your last thoughts of the day be God.
Even being in His presence, prayerfully, can lift you in your darkest moments. In your most painful experiences.
Know that YOUR sufferings are known to God, and as Christians, we have that truth from Him that they are nothing compared to the GLORY to come.
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