"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the suffering that I see all around me. When it touches my family or my dearest friends, my heart is deeply grieved.
I know the common response to pain and suffering is to ask why? Why does it have to be this way? We may never know why. For example, we're never told that Job was given insight as to why his life was touched with tragedy. It is enough for us to know that God is good and He is sovereign.
Then, when we can't stop ourselves from wondering why there's suffering and pain, we can look at the situation from a couple of perspectives. 1) Am I sinning? Is God trying to get my attention and trying to get me to go the other way? It's kind of like a hot stove and a toddler. If the pain is the only way to get the kid to leave the stove alone, then perhaps the pain will save a much serious burn later.
2) Am I being taught something? Sometimes we need a different perspective and pain is an effective teacher.
The other reason which we sometimes overlook is found here in 2 Corinthians:
3) Am I going through this now so that I can be God's comforting hands to someone else when they go through a similar situation? What if God needs our hands to provide the comfort to someone who desperately needs to know the Savior? What if we don't learn to see our suffering as part of the will of God? What if we only resent the suffering? Will we be able to provide comfort to someone who really needs it?
Think about it. Think about the trouble you are enduring right now. Acknowledge first that God is sovereign and He has your best interest at heart. Then ask yourself these three questions:
1) Am I sinning? Is there something I should not be doing? 2) What would God have me to learn from this situation? 3) Am I letting the relationship I have with my Savior comfort me? Am I at peace because the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is working in my life? Or am I resisting the suffering with every ounce of my being?
Suffering is never easy. Growing pains are not called growing pains because they're pleasant. If nothing comes along to get us out of our rut, we would gladly stay right where we are. Add some perspective to your situation. You might even want to memorize 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. It might give you some comfort knowing that your suffering could help someone else someday.
Your life is in God's hands. He's not about to drop you. That's a nice message to pass along.
Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the suffering that I see all around me. When it touches my family or my dearest friends, my heart is deeply grieved.
I know the common response to pain and suffering is to ask why? Why does it have to be this way? We may never know why. For example, we're never told that Job was given insight as to why his life was touched with tragedy. It is enough for us to know that God is good and He is sovereign.
Then, when we can't stop ourselves from wondering why there's suffering and pain, we can look at the situation from a couple of perspectives. 1) Am I sinning? Is God trying to get my attention and trying to get me to go the other way? It's kind of like a hot stove and a toddler. If the pain is the only way to get the kid to leave the stove alone, then perhaps the pain will save a much serious burn later.
2) Am I being taught something? Sometimes we need a different perspective and pain is an effective teacher.
The other reason which we sometimes overlook is found here in 2 Corinthians:
3) Am I going through this now so that I can be God's comforting hands to someone else when they go through a similar situation? What if God needs our hands to provide the comfort to someone who desperately needs to know the Savior? What if we don't learn to see our suffering as part of the will of God? What if we only resent the suffering? Will we be able to provide comfort to someone who really needs it?
Think about it. Think about the trouble you are enduring right now. Acknowledge first that God is sovereign and He has your best interest at heart. Then ask yourself these three questions:
1) Am I sinning? Is there something I should not be doing? 2) What would God have me to learn from this situation? 3) Am I letting the relationship I have with my Savior comfort me? Am I at peace because the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, is working in my life? Or am I resisting the suffering with every ounce of my being?
Suffering is never easy. Growing pains are not called growing pains because they're pleasant. If nothing comes along to get us out of our rut, we would gladly stay right where we are. Add some perspective to your situation. You might even want to memorize 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. It might give you some comfort knowing that your suffering could help someone else someday.
Your life is in God's hands. He's not about to drop you. That's a nice message to pass along.
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