Suffering Saints

“Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, “Enter into fellowship with Me. Arise and shine.” If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?” Oswald Chambers, November 1 in “My Utmost for His Highest”

If there is no wound, we cannot experience God’s healing touch. If there is no sorrow, we cannot experience God’s comfort. If there is no loneliness or desire, we cannot experience the intimacy of God. It is in our suffering – in our darkest moments – that we draw close to our Father and experience the depth of His love for us. Somehow in our sin-damaged minds, if things are going well for us, we tend to believe that we are responsible for that. We become arrogant and entitled. When we come to the end of ourselves in our suffering, we turn our faces to the One who can save us, heal us, and make us whole again.

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 6:19b that we are not our own. That is a hard pill for us to swallow. We want to be in charge of our lives. We want to believe that we have power in and of ourselves. We work hard and we believe that all we have we earned. But if we will stop a moment and allow ourselves to experience fellowship with the Creator of the universe and everything in it, we will come to a point of recognizing that my next heartbeat, my next breath, and my next thing on my “to do” list all belong to God. It is a humbling experience to come before Him stripped of all our self-righteousness and arrogance and realize I have nothing to offer Him except worship and obedience. And when I come to that place, my worship of Him is real and my willingness to obey becomes less of a struggle because I trust Him completely. I trust His love for me. I trust His plans for me. I trust He has my best interest at heart and will do whatever it takes to draw me into an intimate relationship with Him.

Do you notice that in Scripture the words “joy” or “rejoice” often come with the words “trials” or “suffering”?

Here is what Peter has to say about it: “So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 1 Peter 1:6 NLT “Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world.” 1 Peter 4:13 NLT

Lord, help me take my eyes off of me and put them on You. Only then will I ever experience the true joy of walking in full intimacy with You and experience the joy of seeing Your glory revealed to all the world. Thank You for allowing me to suffer with You in order that I can experience the fullness of Your glory and of Your love. Amen