We like gifts. And we have a Good God. A Powerful God. A Loving God. So when we understand that we are His children when we receive Christ (John 1:12), we should really expect some fantastic gifts from the hands of that marvelous God. And we won't be disappointed. There is, first and foremost, salvation. No small deal given our original "dead in sin" (Eph 2:1), "hostile to God" (Rom 8:7), "enemies of God" (Rom 5:10) position. We are His adopted children (Rom 8:29). We have the Holy Spirit -- the Spirit of God living within us, teaching us (1 John 2:27) and empowering and enabling us (Php 2:13). And gifts! Individual gifts. Special gifts from the Spirit who "gives to each one individually as He wills." (1 Cor 12:11) He gives faith (Rom 12:3). Imagine that! God keeps giving and giving. Oh, and I know one of our favorites -- suffering! Oh, we love that!
Wait ... no? So, which part? "God doesn't give us suffering." Okay, let's look at that. Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake." (Php 1:29) See that? "Granted." A gift. (Note that "believe in Him" is granted here, too, just as Christ said (John 6:65).) The language is clearly about God granting the gift of suffering for His sake. Peter offers a similar concept when he writes, "It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." (1 Peter 3:17) And "Let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good." (1 Peter 4:19) And Jesus said we are blessed when we suffer for Him (Matt 5:10-12). While all of humanity considers suffering a really bad thing, Scripture understands that, in the hands of a good and wise and loving God, it can be a very good gift.
"And we don't like it." So why don't we? Why don't we see it as a gift? Why don't we "rejoice in our sufferings" (Rom 5:3-5)? Why don't we "count it all joy" (James 1:2-4) when trials occur? Why, when God gives us these gifts, do we turn up our noses and question the goodness of God? Well, it's clearly because we're confused, deceived, short-sighted. We don't know, apparently, that "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Rom 5:3-5) We aren't aware that "the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:3-4) We think we know better than God and this can't be a good thing. But it is.
It's not natural and it's not normal, but it is right. When we face various troubles, we are benefited (Rom 8:28) and God is glorified (1 Peter 4:13). When we are weak, His power is made perfect (2 Cor 12:9). So it's not God's gift of suffering that needs to be modified; it's our thinking about that gift. The proper response (the right, the accurate, the reasonable, the correct response) is to rejoice in it. I suspect we all have a bit of adjustment required in our perceptions to align that that mode of thinking. ("A bit of adjustment" -- is that an understatement?)
No comments:
Post a Comment