Suffering Well

Suffering Well 

3/21/23

God has chosen people throughout history based on a scale we cannot grasp. It’s not about money, some were rich and some were poor. It’s not about status, some were kings and some were tax collectors. It’s not about education, some were well educated and some were just poor shepherd boys.

I would like to propose that perhaps God looks for people who can suffer well.

While there are countless examples in the world, I would like to showcase one that has really hit me this week; Job.

In chapter one we see his wealth and offspring taken from him. In stripping these things from Job, Satan thought he would invoke Job to curse God. But Job shows something in 1:21; he shows that he sees deeper into God’s character and nature than just what God has given him. He says: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” What a declaration! Even in his suffering, even in his loss, Job is able to bless God’s name.

Of course the enemy had a backup plan, strike his heart. As Job sat in the ashes, scraping the boils that covered his body with a broken piece of pottery, he was surely a sad sight. I can’t even fully imagine the depths of this pitiful image. How does Job respond to his wife’s plea to “curse God and die”? He says: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” What!? How could Job, having suffered so much, be willing to “receive evil” from God?

Perhaps it was because he understood God’s nature. He understood what Paul would later write to the Romans: “Not only that, but we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Rom. 5:3-4). Job would even later say: “Though he slay me, I will hope in him…” (Job 13:15).

Why did God call Paul? “For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:16).

Why did God call Stephen? “And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:60).

Why did God call Esther? “Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16b). 

God chose these, and many more, because they suffered well. Some suffered as a foreshadowing of how our Lord would suffer. Some suffered because of the example they had in our Lord’s suffering. But they suffered well. We live in a church age that has rejected suffering. However, I think somehow, suffering fits into God’s divine plan for his church. 

Why did God choose you?