Category — Hardship & Suffering

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliot

Eric dedicated his life to becoming one of the greatest soloists the world had ever known. Already at the age of four, his mother started him on voice lessons having recognized his musical talent. It was tough times back then during the great depression and when Eric was just six, his father died leaving a widow with five young children. At this tender age, Eric began to work to help support the family. [Read more →]

God delights in answering the prayers of his children!
As our heavenly Father, God loves to talk with his children and respond to our requests. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11) [Read more →]

In Mark 4:35-41 we find an amazing story with far more impact than first meets the eye!

“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’
They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” (Mark 4:35-41) [Read more →]

God uses trials to produce Christlike character in us. There are other great passages like Romans 5:3-5 and James 1:2-4 that also demonstrate this. But suffering does not guarantee holiness. If we respond to suffering and hardship in defiance and anger, pushing God away and rejecting his love and compassion, we thereby choose not to allow God to work in our lives. We thus reject his discipline. So how do we respond rightly to suffering?

We need to recognize the relational nature of suffering. Suffering always affects our relationships—with God, with others and even with ourselves. That’s why we so often jump to the conclusion that God doesn’t love us or that he’s angry at us when we suffer. Since suffering is a deeply relational issue, we must turn to God in a deeply relational way. [Read more →]

God uses suffering, trials and hardship in our lives to make us more Christlike:

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:7-11) [Read more →]

Suffering also has the unique ability of making Christ more desirable than sin. “So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:1-2 NLT)

I recently passed a kidney stone. During that painful ordeal, I found my thoughts centered on God and seeking him. Chasing after my own desires was the farthest thing from my mind! And a number of years ago, I worked with a man who openly and maliciously persecuted me for my relationship with Christ. That man’s slander and hatred toward me pressed me to deeper reliance and focus on Christ. [Read more →]

Hardship and suffering also provide us with the opportunity to experience transcendent joy—a joy not linked to our circumstances, but linked to our deep satisfying relationship with Jesus. Paul refers to this in 1 Thessalonians 1:6 NLT, “So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you.”

Just a few weeks ago, a good friend of mine was hospitalized. Five years ago he had battled colon cancer and now the doctors were convinced he was suffering the side effects of liver cancer. They gave him a couple months to two years life expectancy. The next morning he was to be operated on to biopsy the tumors on his liver and have a port installed for chemotherapy treatments. [Read more →]

In Scripture as well as in life, we find many different kinds of trials and sufferings: persecution – 2 Timothy 3:12; hard work – 1 Thessalonians 2:9; lack – Philippians 4:12; calamity – James 5:11 (See Job 1-2); sickness – Job 2:7-10; deferred hope – Romans 4:18 (Abraham); injustice – 1 Peter 2:20; grief – 1 Peter 1:6; and Temptation – Hebrews 2:18 (just to mention a few).

Without question, hardship, persecution and trials allow us to explore the depths of God’s grace and love in a way that no other experience can offer. To this point Paul told the followers of Christ in Corinth, “For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:5 NLT) How else could we experience the magnitude of his grace and love apart from deep need resulting from difficult trials and pain? [Read more →]

As humans, we expend a great deal of time, money and effort avoiding and minimizing pain, hardship and trials. We’d much rather experience comfort, tranquility and pleasure. But the Scripture is very clear on the matter that suffering plays a key role in our transformation as a follower of Christ.

When Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel and won many disciples to Christ, they always made a point to tell them, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22) This is a hard truth! Just this week I personally have been struggling with accepting certain hardships that exist in my life right now. [Read more →]

The Holy Spirit teaches us what to say. In Luke 12:11-12 Jesus said, “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

In the mid 1970’s I was serving in the US Army in Berlin. The Army mandated several days of training to deter racial discrimination. The facilitator presented lots of issues, but didn’t seem to have any solutions. So when he asked for some, I volunteered to the group that I thought Jesus Christ was the answer to our racial discrimination troubles. The facilitator exploded in anger and verbally abused me publicly and forbade me to talk about Christ in our sessions again. [Read more →]