“The Lord gives His children beautiful gifts through suffering.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – March 26, 2024
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12
Have you noticed that no matter what we do, we can’t get away from suffering? It comes knocking on everyone’s doorstep. And, even though we greatly dislike suffering, and even though it’s counter-cultural to the Western mindset, suffering is not an accident. This doesn’t mean the Lord is the author of evil. But He uses suffering and Satan’s attacks in His divine plan to transform us, make us, and mold us into more of who He created us to be.
Not only that, but through suffering, the Lord wants to give us beautiful gifts that we cannot receive without going through the hard, difficult, tear-filled, anxiety-making hard stuff. Praise Him! What Satan wants to use for evil to break us down, destroy us, debilitate us, and make us angry at God, the Lord says, “No way, devil! I have something stunningly beautiful coming from this trial for my beautiful child. I’m making something from your sinister plan that is going to bless the world, bless my child, and glorify Me!”
Suffering is not opposed to the abundant life Jesus has promised to every believer. In fact, it can be the reason we experience the abundant life He has promised. Because, you see, the abundant life God wants to grant us isn’t external. We can’t get it from what we own, our occupations, or where we travel. It’s internal. It’s all the highest and best that Christ is. It’s His zoe life, inside us. It’s Jesus Himself!
Suffering doesn’t happen to us because God hates us and wants to punish us. God allows it and He uses it in our lives to make beautiful things happen in us and through us. He uses it to make us more like Him, which gives Him—and us—such great joy!
Through my own personal suffering through cancer, the Lord has given me some amazing gifts. Do I want to go through cancer again after I make it through this trial? No. Am I grateful for it? Yes, absolutely. I never want to give back the blessings the Lord has provided for me, and I am so thankful for what I have learned. This has—ironically—produced the most joy-filled season of my entire Christian walk, even though I am still in the heat of the battle. Almost every day, I shed tears of joy and gratitude for all Jesus has done. He is simply amazing!
Through this trial, the Lord has given me greater compassion for others, a love for Him that eclipses anything I have experienced in my walk with Him before in my thirty-plus years of being a believer, a greater knowledge of my authority in Him, precious intimacy with Christ, gratitude for each day, a purification and letting go of sinful attitudes that needed to change, and a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit. These precious and beautiful gifts could not have been given to me any other way. They could only come to me through suffering.
Perhaps you are going through your own trial. Maybe you’re in the middle of the storm right now and you can’t see the blessings the Lord wants to give you. You can’t see the gifts of suffering. Hold on. In your trial, don’t turn away from Jesus. Don’t become angry at Him. Don’t allow your heart to become hardened or believe the lie that He is angry with you. Your blessings are coming. Stay close to Jesus during those difficult nights and confusing moments. Trust Him. He is holding you intimately and closely in His loving, tender hands, and you are never out of His care.
“And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).
Prayer
Lord, I don’t know how you will bring blessings from this trial. I don’t know how it’s even possible that good could come from it. But I choose to look into your beautiful face, knowing that because you are so lovely that beauty will come from this difficult time for me, that you will be glorified, and others will be blessed too. Amen.
Application
Reflect on a past trial or time of suffering and tell someone what beautiful gifts God gave you as a result.
Related Reading
1 Peter 4:19; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 4:12; Philippians 1:29
Worship Resource
Phil Wickham: This is Our God
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