By J. Carl Laney
Crosswalk.com
The Bible teaches that "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28). It is reassuring to know that when God allows suffering, which He could prevent, He is accomplishing something good. Some of the good things God can accomplish through our suffering are as follows: building endurance and perseverance into our lives (James 1:3, Rom. 5:3), helping us grow in Christian maturity (James 1:4), proving our godly character (Rom. 5:4), developing Christ-likeness (Rom. 8:28-29), helping us grow in personal holiness (Heb.12:10), and giving us the assurance that we are His children (Heb. 12:7-8).We may not see the good that God is accomplishing. But we can be confident that His eternal purposes are being fulfilled through our trials. Sometimes the dark threads are as needful as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern God has planned. But someday, he will unroll the tapestry of our lives and we will see the beautiful work God has accomplished, partly through suffering. It is important to keep an eternal perspective when going through suffering. Paul wrote, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:17-18).
God recognizes that sometimes greater glory will come to His name by permitting evil rather than disallowing it altogether. It is hard to understand from a human and earthly perspective why God will sometimes allow human suffering for the purpose of bringing greater glory to Himself. But if the purpose of our lives is to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31), then we will accept suffering gladly to more adequately exhibit the greatness of our God.
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It is a normal tendency for people to avoid experiencing hardships. How we react to hardships shows the level of our spiritual growth.
Tough seasons are excellent opportunities for mature believers to shine. Spiritual sucklings tend to pray the hardships away when they are in tough seasons, but mature believers shine as their faith and trust in the Lord are strengthened as it is tried by the difficulties of the seasons.
Tough seasons are excellent opportunities for mature believers to shine. Spiritual sucklings tend to pray the hardships away when they are in tough seasons, but mature believers shine as their faith and trust in the Lord are strengthened as it is tried by the difficulties of the seasons.
How believers live their lives in tough times conveys a deeper witnessing message to the world than sermonizing.
