Suffering

My pastor at church recently gave me a book called FOREVER, Why You Can't Live Without It by: Paul Tripp. I brought it home and placed it on the bookshelf for future reading. Yesterday, I picked it up and noticed chapter 8 was on suffering. I was prompted by the Lord to read it knowing it would be very applicable to my life right now! Here is some of what ministered to me as I read. I hope it is encouraging to you as well. Much of what I wrote was taken directly from Tripp's book and I take no credit for it. I look forward to reading it in its entirety and recommend you consider it too.

Reality is we live in a broken world. It is a world where severe suffering is a daily reality. It is a world where suffering forces us to realize just how LITTLE power WE have. Suffering has a way of entering our door, and when it does, we'd better have handholds to reach for that keep us from being swept away by the power, discouragement, and helplessness of it all. Holding onto eternity can radically alter the way we suffer, because it offers us hope and help, not just in the future, but in the here and now.

The promise of Forever - the gift of the empty tomb to all who have placed their trust in Jesus - tells us the following things:

OUR LIFE IS NOT OUT OF CONTROL
Suffering always confronts us with the fact that our lives do not operate according to OUR plans. Suffering is almost always unexpected and surprising. In our suffering, forever reminds us that our life is carefully orchestrated by God, who is powerful, wise, and good. Someone is in charge of what is happening in our life. Forever tells us that HE does have a plan, that HE is in control, and that as God's child, we do have hope and help because grace has been included in HIS UNALTERABLE PLAN. And, because God has written our story and is working out His plan for our good and His glory, then our dark moments have meaning and purpose. They are preparing us for what is to come. Romans 5:1-5, James 1:2-4



GOD IS GUARDING US
In our suffering, forever tells us that God has not only guaranteed us a future FREE OF SUFFERING, but has promised to protect us in the meantime. I Peter 1:5 says we are being guarded. We are guarded in the here and now and will be until forever becomes our permanent address! This brings hope and comfort. This does not mean that we are given a ticket out of difficulty and pain. Rather, he is promising to guard us while we are in the middle of trouble. He will give us all the grace we need to endure. He will never leave us.



WE ARE NOT ALONE
In our suffering, forever encourages us with the reality that God is near. When our souls are in the darkness, we need to keep telling ourselves again and again that the sun is still brightly shining. God is with us, even though the present darkness may be blinding us from his nearness. Nothing can get in the way of what he has stored away for us - an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us I Peter 1:4



CHRIST LIVES IN US
The fact that God guards us assures us that we will have grace that is form-fit for our time of suffering. This grace is not a set of things; it is a person, and his name is Jesus! God is not only with us and providing for us, He is IN us. The promise of forever doesn't just mean that we'll live in his presence then, but it means that we are gifted with his presence now. He is within us giving us all the strength, wisdom, and righteousness we could ever need. If you are God's child, Jesus really does live inside you! This truth makes it possible to get out of bed when all around you seems to be crumbling down. And, understanding that God's greatest gift is himself changes the way you live.



WE WILL HAVE LIFE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF SUFFERING
Forever guarantees that we will have life on the other side of our suffering. Getting the right perception is difficult because the RIGHT NOW seems big and significant, but when we are in a place where time is no more and our life will never end, the things that crush us now will seem brief and incidental. We need to place our trials up against forever in order to properly value the significance of them. This does not make our suffering any less painful, but it does tell us that it will only be a minute of our total existence. We will live forever and spend vastly more time in a place where suffering is NO MORE than we have spent on earth where suffering still lives. 2 Cor 4:16-18. Viewing our troubles through the lens of eternity helps us to see that they are only light and momentary. If you see things around you as permanent, they take on too much importance and when they are gone or taken away, our sense of loss is increased.



Many Christians cause their own trouble by forgetting who they are and what they have been given during their suffering. We are children of the ONE who controls the present and guarantees the future. So, we can suffer and we will suffer while here on earth, but not like those who have no future hope! We can live for something larger than this moment. Hallelujah!