Sunday, October 28, 2012

Rejoice in Suffering?



“Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope.” (Romans 5:3-4)

Who in their right mind ever rejoices and finds joy in their suffering? Whenever troubles come our way most of us have the tendency to think “why me”? or “it’s not fair”. Life has its ups and downs, good times and bad times, discomforts and times of achievements. Can we really find joy in the suffering? Evidently, joy of some sort, to some amount, can be found in suffering. We know that we should have this joy, but how do we find it? We have to find some comfort in knowing that our suffering is not without a purpose, and even though we may not be able to rejoice right at the moment of our pain and suffering, it soon should follow.

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)

It’s not that we enjoy suffering, but when we allow ourselves to express joyfulness even in times of pain, anguish, and sorrow, we gain strength and endurance; we rejoice in spite of our grief and the end result is greater spiritual power and strength. Even when we become impatient and frustrated, and can’t see an end to our discomfort, we can be confident in our God who loves us and gives us joy and restful peace.

“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.” (2 Corinthians 1:3)

Where do we find our joy as we travel the road of agony and sorrow? We will find it in God’s Word as we apply it to our circumstances; He has promised us that our suffering is not in vain or without a purpose. God allows us to go through trials so that He can comfort us and know the true joy of His peace and assurance during any situation. And through every trial that we endure, we are blessed with the ability to comfort other people who are suffering similar troubles. Being a comfort to others makes us feel useful and good and glorifies God.  

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)

Going through the rivers of difficulty can either cause us to drown or force us to grow stronger, and if we don’t look beyond suffering and see the light of its eternal values, it will breed resentment and bitterness rather than joy. Suffering is a necessary pain that supplements divine growth, and God uses it to develop and shape us into better Christians. It produces endurance which in turn produces Christian character, and our Christian character produces hope!  




Linking up on Spiritual Sundays, Sharing His Beauty, and Winsome Wednesday! 

Beauty in His Grip Button

21 comments:

  1. This is a hard concept for even a believer to grasp, until we experience the supernatural comfort that God promises His children during suffering. It is pretty impossible for an unbeliever to imagine that God can, and will do this for those who have put their trust in Him.
    It will rain on both the wicked and the righteous, so suffering will be experienced by everyone at some time. The hope of God's comfort should be something to draw people to God, but instead, many just blame Him for their suffering.
    Very thought provoking post, thank you Denise.
    ~God's love & blessings to you, my friend~ Lisa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true Lisa; it's heartbreaking to see people blame God and push Him away. Great thoughts here...Blessings sweet friend!

      Delete
  2. Hello Denise I got here from "Gentle Recovery" by: Sarah(Nikki) and I am glad that I did,what an encouraging word this morning. Suffering,something that we want to run from,but need so bad praise God for the good He brings out of us through our suffering,
    Love you and have a "Happy Sunday"!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Pat; yes, much easier to run from! Glad you stopped by; I look forward to hearing from you again. :)

      Delete
  3. LOVE this post, Denise!! I agree. It's so true. My Mom and I were just talking about this very thing. I think suffering binds us to Jesus in a way nothing else really can. Love all the Scriptures you used too. Thanks so much for writing. Love and blessings to you.

    ~Michelle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed Michelle...When our heart, faith, and trust are in the right place, it certainly does bring us closer to Jesus, Blessings and love to you too!

      Delete
  4. Hi Denise - such great encouragement here my friend. Those tough times are so much easier to get through when we look for the joy of our Saviour walking a path with us.
    God bless
    Tracy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen Tracy! Blessings for a great week my friend! :)

      Delete
    2. You write: "but when we allow ourselves to express joyfulness even in times of pain, anguish, and sorrow, we gain strength and endurance; we rejoice in spite of our grief and the end result is greater spiritual power and strength." This is so true, Denise. May we all glorify God in our suffering as He makes us more like Christ.

      Delete
    3. Amen Debbie! Blessings my friend!

      Delete
  5. Hi, Denise. I think I can say all of us at one time or another has experienced suffering in our lives! Two statements that really stood out in your post were, "We have to find some comfort in knowing that our suffering is not without a purpose." and "He has promised us that our suffering is not in vain or without a purpose. God allows us to go through trials so that He can comfort us and know the true joy of His peace and assurance during any situation." We don't always have an answer for suffering, but that is where trust and hope come into the picture. Thanks for sharing this.

    In His Lo♥e, Ann @ Christ in the Clouds

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ann; thanks for stopping by! So true that we don't have answers.....but we do have faith and encouragement through HIM! Blessings!

      Delete
  6. You know there are just some passages of scripture that are hard to fathom how we can manage to walk in obedience to them. But as you pointed out, I think it is choosing to focus on end result of suffering rather than our current position.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good day my dear it has been awhile...how are you doing? I missed you not sure if you know this but I had to give up my google site and spend more time during ministry, at The Devotion Cafe' so much has happen and God be the glory for it....

    I love your posting on this topic because so often when we go through suffering we complain and we don't do much of praying or worshiping God, because we spend all our time thinking about our problems.

    And if you don't mind I would like to share what I learned about this word suffering, back here this summer as you might not know or know I was in the park every week witnessing to people and handing out bibles. During that time I was being attacked by the enemy telling me it was a waste of time people don't want to hear about Jesus...and one day I began feeling down in my spirit and I started worrying about things and the more I prayed the more it seem like things was getting worse, but one day out of the clear blue sky the Lord spoke so clearly to me, He said why are you worshiping your problems? You are in a form of Idolatry and I said, Lord I only worship You and He said..When you spend your time being consumed by your problems and you worry you are worshiping the problem because it is taking your eyes off of ME...Denise from that day I stopped during that and learned a very valuable lesson, that is why when we suffer we can't take our eyes off of God and give time to our problems because when we do we are worshiping it instead of GOD..When the Lord put it that way talk about a reality check I got...

    Suffering is a blessing at the time it don't seem like it and we don't want to endure it but if we ignore the flesh and understand the purpose of it than and only than will we be bless...Thanks for sharing and I pray that those who read your posting have a new revelation of what suffering is...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen Desiray! So good to hear from you and catch up. Love what you said here.....I am so proud of/for you and all that you do! :)Love and blessings friend! :)

      Delete
  8. Suffering is something that I always hope to avoid. And yet it is often through suffering that I learn the most. God has a way of using our suffering for our good and ...His glory!

    Thanks for your kind thoughts on my post this morning on Heart Choices.

    Blessings and love,
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My pleasure Debbie; what a tragedy as we continue to see the aftermath of the continued destruction and devastation in the lives that have been affected.

      Delete
  9. Hi Denise,
    A few years back when my first wife passed away I was confused with something Scripture said. God says to "rejoice always," and "in all things give thanks." I remember asking God over and over "how Lord am I suppose to give thanks in this and rejoice?" Our rejoicing is not in the situation we face, but who God is and what He is doing through it. Jesus came down from heaven and died for us, so He is acquainted with grief. His comfort was amazing. It might sound weird, but amongst all the pain, there was a joy and peace beyond all comprehension which was from being so close to Jesus and receiving His comfort.
    Thank you for sharing this, as usual another awesome post.
    God bless,
    Ken

    ReplyDelete
  10. How heartbreaking for you Ken; what a blessing that you were able to see through your pain and suffering and receive God's peace and comfort! I am so happy for you now! :) Blessings brother!

    ReplyDelete
  11. this is so true what you wrote...someone used to say to me all the time...this too will pass and even though at the time I didn't feel like it ever would...it did....And now that I've come through some tough stuff...it's easier to trust and know He's always got a purpose in the hard things. Thanks for this encouraging message. And thanks for being you...you shine!!!!

    ReplyDelete