We all want
to ask the question, “Why God?” when we find trials, tribulations and
suffering. The Bible makes it clear
however that when (not if) we are in difficult situations we are not to think that
God may be unfaithful or uncaring but we are to look to Him for guidance and
strength. Jesus was a man of suffering
yet His circumstances never dictated neither His attitude nor His mission.
Peter the Apostle, who also knew suffering said we are to follow the example of
Jesus:
“For God called you to do good,
even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you.
He is your example, and you must follow in his steps: He never sinned, nor ever
deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten
revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always
judges fairly. He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that
we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your
Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:21-25)
All too
often, our theology is bad. We believe somehow that only good things happen to
Godly people and that bad things happen only to the ungodly. Neither experience
nor the Bible provides any support for that supposition. The New Testament records instances where
people that were poor or blind or crippled were thought to be cursed by God.
Jesus didn’t agree with their theology and brought relief and sight and
healing.
Oswald
Chambers, the missionary and author of “My Utmost for His Highest” wrote about
this. He said, “Faith by its very nature
must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it
difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy
in our own minds.
We often
hear about the “time in the desert” but none of us like that journey. At the
same time, our faith is constantly being worked out and often we will
experience times of testing and trial.
Trials often come independent of discipline that the Lord brings. The Bible tells us that “Lord disciplines those he loves” (Hebrews 12:6) and I love the
very next verse where we are told to accept “hardship
as discipline.”
The writer
of Hebrews doesn’t say that the hardship we are going through is actually the
Lord’s discipline but our response is to be the same. We run to Jesus, we humble ourselves and
submit to His will for our lives. At the
same time we rejoice as the Apostle James said, “For you know that when your
faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for
when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete,
needing nothing. (James 1:3-4)
Likely the person most associated with suffering and trials in the Bible was Job. Job lost everything yet he didn't sin against God. In Chapter 19:25 Job comments, "I know that my Redeemer lives and in the end He will stand upon the earth".
