The GIFT (!) of Suffering
Years ago I met a gal and her husband who attended the same church Bay and I attended in Phoenix, AZ.
They were a precious couple who, you knew from the get-go, dearly loved Jesus.
As their story unfolded, they shared of how their son had been tragically killed in a car accident in recent months.
As we expressed our grief and sadness for them, and promised to pray, I remember being struck by their response.
Not being able to remember exact words, this is the concepts they passed on to us.
“We find ourselves grateful that the Lord believed we were capable of handling this particular sorrow and struggle. We believe He knew we’d pass through these waters hanging onto the coattails of His grace and come through to the other side.”
This is what stuck with me:
“GRATEFUL…He thought us capable.”
GRATEFUL…as if the suffering the Lord allowed into their lives was a gift; and, that they could be relied on to receive that gift in full for His glory.
As a fairly newly married young woman (who hadn’t really been a Jesus-follower that long yet), this thought caught me off guard.
I looked to see if others in Scripture may have felt that way, and I recall bumping into this passage of Scripture:
Then they (the apostles) left the presence of the council (where they had been flogged and ordered to stop preaching about Jesus), rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer hardship for His name (Acts 5:41).
They were counted worthy.
To the apostles, their flogging and hardship was a gift that they had been GRANTED.
I heard this cancer patient the other day say something that just rocked my faith. They said, “I’m so grateful that God has given me such a rare gift. In the same way that He only gives some riches, because it is a dangerous gift, I am so grateful that He’s given me suffering.”
It is a dangerous gift to give. It causes some people to run from God, just like riches, but it causes some people to lean into God more. It blew my mind that someone could have that perspective, to realize that the suffering in their life, wasn’t just against them, but that God was doing it for them! It’s one of the most Christian things I’ve ever heard, and yet our culture hears that and it blows their mind to believe that God can use pain and suffering.We are so enamored by comfort.
I speak about myself here; but, maybe the next time you’re going through something…stop and pause and wonder is this a gift? Jesus is pretty clear in His most famous sermon:
Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.
In the middle of your suffering you begin to look like Jesus, and you get the gifts Jesus gives, namely his presence, MORE OF HIM! (* highlights and underlines are my emphasis)
Earlier this week a friend sent me a link on Facebook to a Reel by a young man named Ryan Miller.
I’m copying his script as he looks into his camera and says these profound words:
This is truly a paradigm shift, we must journey toward…
Suffering is a gift.
A dangerous gift, yes!
But, if he’s gifted you…
He knows your heart.
He knows you can be counted on to be worthy of the gift.
He knows you will lean into Him more so that you can receive more of Him.
And, He knows you will walk through to the other side, BETTER.
Maybe not perfectly healed, or your situation perfectly ironed out as you hope and pray, but you will experience the MUCH-MORENESS (GK: the MEGAS) of JESUS.
AND, there’s nothin’ better than that!
What a gift!
-Romans 5:3a-