| WEEKLY WORD |
Suffering – A Necessary Prerequisite for God's Use
(Overcomer Wu)
“My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and endurance.” -- James 5:10
A most spiritual man once said, “God cannot use a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” This might comes as a shock to some of God's people who hear this, especially in this day and age when the prosperity gospel is so prevalent which essentially lures people with the inaccurate message that one will be happy, healthy, and prosperous when he/she becomes a Christian. Though God can certainly bless someone with life-long good health and material riches for use in His kingdom, the norm however seems to be a life of suffering that God has design for the good of His people. For this reason, the apostle Peter wrote as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (1 Pet 4:12). We are ask to not consider the fiery ordeals that we go through as something “strange” or out of the ordinary. In other words, Peter is saying that it is something very common and ordinary for Christians to suffer and go through fiery trials in this life.
There are many good reasons why we go through sufferings as designed by God. In this short discourse, I will mainly concentrate on one: that suffering is necessary to prepare us to be useful in God's hand. Hence, the qualifications the apostle Paul listed for his being an apostle are not what fits our natural concepts, yet it is exactly how God prepares someone to be useful in His hand: “... in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness — besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.” (2 Cor 11:23-28)
Some
people may say that our suffering is only useful when we are
suffering on behalf of Christ or for the sake of Christ or God's
purpose. That is of course a true statement; however, we may not
always see the direct connection of our sufferings for the sake of
Christ or God's purpose. In fact, it is usually the case that we
don't see our suffering as having any relevance to Christ or how it
could be used for God's purpose. Yet suffering can be used by God to
prepare us for a special task ahead of us which we don't see while we
are going through the suffering. For instance, Job certainly didn't
know why he had to suffer such great lost in one day – the loss
of his herds of camels, cattle, flocks, and even all of his children.
As if that wasn't enough, he even had boils from the top of his head
to his feet. We know the reason why Job went through such great
suffering because the Bible tells us that God wanted to prove to
Satan that Job would continue to worship Him in spite of God taking
away his material and earthly blessings. However, Job surely did not
know what was going on at the time of his greatest suffering.
Another case that we see where the person going through the
suffering do not see a clear connection between what his suffering
had to do with God's purpose is Joseph in the book of Genesis.
Through incredible adversity as a young man, God prepared him for a
task beyond his imagination. Abandoned and betrayed by his brothers
after he told them his dreams that they would someday bow down before
him, some could even say that his suffering was a consequence of his
own foolishness and not for God's sake or God's purpose at all. Yet
we know that after he was sold into slavery, he was eventually
elevated to a position of the equivalent of a prime minister of
Egypt. As the prime minister of Egypt, the second most influential
man in the world at that time, he was given charge of Egypt's food
stores during a severe worldwide famine that lasted for seven long
years.
Finally, the day came when ten of his brothers, who
thought Joseph was long dead, came down to Egypt from Canaan to get
food for their starving families. The moment Joseph saw and
recognized them, he could have had them summarily executed on the
spot. Instead, he forgave them, and made this amazing statement that
showed his great insight – an insight which he did not have
earlier in his life while he was going through his sufferings –
into God's purpose behind all of his sufferings: "But as for
you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order
to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
(Gen 50:20) Earlier, Joseph had told them: "But don't
be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it. He
sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives" (Gen 45:5
NLT). Did you catch that? Joseph didn't just say "God allowed
it," though you could describe it that way, too. But he actually
said, "God did it." Why? Joseph said, "To
save many people alive."
By Joseph's own
interpretation, God had delivered him into the hands of his jealous
brothers to be sold into Egypt, then be falsely accused by Potiphar's
wife, thrown into the dungeon for thirteen years, so that he could
interpret the dream of the Pharaoh and be made prime minister to make
provision for the future of God's people as well as other people of
the world. Indeed many people across the ancient world lived as a
result of Joseph being prepared by God through much suffering.
Perhaps the Lord is allowing us to go through some difficult
circumstances right now to prepare us for something He wants us to do
in the days to come. I realize that thought might not bring much
comfort in our present distress. You may be thinking, "This
suffering doesn't make any sense at all. Why did this happen to me
when I was serving God faithfully and gave my life to Him. It's
meaningless and totally undeserved. I don't see any point in it at
all." Joseph or the apostle Paul or other great men of God might
have thought that same thing at several points in his life. It's
certain that Job did! But the truth is, God might very well be
preparing you to touch someone else's life in a way no one else
could.
The following verses tell us in no uncertain term that suffering is absolutely necessary for us to be prepared as a proper vessel to minister for the benefit of others: “Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer.” (2 Cor 1:6). Also, Colossians 1:24 says, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” There are times when we go through sufferings without apparent reasons of why God allowed them at all. Yet it is clear from these two verses that there are certain types of sufferings that we go through which are mainly for the benefits of others and for the sake of the building of the church.
If someone just
found out they have cancer and you are a cancer survivor, you have no
idea how much encouragement and perspective you can bring to such a
person, who feels as though he or she has been handed a death
sentence. There is great encouragement that only you could bring to
such person that no one else could bring by virtue of the fact that
only you have gone through the same suffering. It is even possible
that others could utter the same words that you convey to this person
who has cancer by their textbook knowledge that they picked up
somewhere, yet their words simply do not hold the same weight and
credibility that yours do because of the suffering experiences. In
fact, it is not just mere words of comfort that you can convey to
others who are suffering, but you can minister the very portion of
grace that you received from going through your sufferings. It is a
special grace that cannot be obtained by any other means. The apostle
Paul experienced this grace through his suffering as well which
enabled him to write in his 2nd epistle to the saints in
Corinth: “'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is
made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”
This verse with its context tells us that there are certain grace and
power of the Lord that we could not receive or experience from Him
unless we go through suffering, weaknesses, or infirmities.
Brian Birdwell was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, when one of those planes commissioned by the terrorists crashed into the Pentagon. Many of Brian's friends were killed that day. He survived, though he was burned over much of his body, and had to go through excruciating, multiple skin graft operations. Now it became one of his lifelong mission to always go to the hospitals' burned ward to bring encouragement and the good news of the gospel to the burn victims. Who could have a more effective ministry to burn victims than someone who had been through the excruciating pain of being burnt and the agony of being ostracized by people who look at you differently for your burned scars, then the painful process of going through surgeries for your skin grafts and burn treatments as Brian had? Imagine being an individual burned over most of your body, and thinking, "My life is over." But then a survivor comes along and says, "Look. I know how hard it is. I have been there. But I got through it and there is hope for you! God has a plan and a future for you, but you need to first receive Christ into your life... Here is what God has been doing in and through my life since I got out of the hospital. He can do the same for you!"
The
apostle Paul had gone through much suffering which enabled him to
write: "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. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives,
so also through Christ our comfort overflows... And our hope for you
is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the
sufferings, so also you will
partake of the consolation." (2 Cor
1:3-5,7).
Most importantly, God has a way of sanctifying us,
sanctifying us, and perfecting us through suffering. Even as we are
told in Hebrews 2:10 that our sinless Lord Jesus Christ needed to be
made perfect through sufferings, how much more do we the sinful
people need suffering to help purify, sanctify, and perfect us as
gold being purified in the crucible of fire.