Conclusion
As we conclude this series, I share with you that the timing has been interesting for those of you who have contacted me to let me know, but for myself as well. I am facing major surgery in January. During this time leading up to that date, I leaned into my own words, which led me to the better Word, Jesus Christ.
My theology reminds me that Christ became man not to save us from every suffering in our bodies but to save us eternally through suffering. One day, he will deliver us from these bodies, bound to die in resurrection power. Jesus suffered on our behalf. One day, our physical suffering will be put to an end.
Embracing Hope
The hope Christ gives us is not only far off in eternity but can be embraced and experienced in our sufferings today. Because of his life, death, and resurrection, our suffering has new meaning and this hope-filled promise: though we suffer, we never suffer alone.
We can trust that the same Jesus Christ who once suffered for sins now enters into our suffering and sympathizes with us: He bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Pet 2:24).
Getting Personal with Suffering
I trust that He knitted me together in my mother’s womb, and God fully intended I have this particular physical body that suffers the effects of a fallen world (Ps 139:13-14). God’s ways are higher than ours, and I trust there is purpose because he has allowed this. Daily, I soak in His Word and his steadfast love. I trust that He is the lover of my soul. I meditate on God’s character while living out these unpredictable days. He is who He says he is. He is loving, and He is wise.
As perfect health was our first happiness so that it will be our last and eternal happiness, for heaven is not merely streets of gold and harps of melodious music, and winged creatures strangely bright, but it is perfection realized, the slough of depravity cast off the soul shall be herself again, and of manhood it shall be said, ‘his flesh is fresher than a child’s, and he has returned to the days of his youth.
– Charles Spurgeon
I learned from Packer’s Knowing God that the truth is that all the wisdom we need consists entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves. The ultimate difference between God and other beings is that creatures are derived, dependent, and created. God is not dependent because He is the uncreated One. When we fix our eyes on Jesus and reflect on God’s attributes, we dwell in truth. He has given us His wisdom in His Word, and we should strive to know God’s wisdom.
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your Word. – Ps 119:15–16
Getting Personal with the Psalms
Steadfastness is a character trait much needed among those who follow Jesus today. Steadfastness is defined as being “resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.” When we turn to the scriptures, the Psalmist makes a petition that we must also make.
Oh, that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! – Ps 119:5
God is eternally steadfast and calls his followers to mirror that character in their walk. He calls me to an enduring walk with the Lord, wholly committed. In making David’s words more personal, we can state a present tense petition to God, “Oh, that my ways are steadfast.” There is no wavering with our God. We all do well to plea for God’s help because, in our strength, we cannot do this during times of trouble. We do well to turn to His Word and the prayers of his people to sustain us, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can receive support and endure. Recognize the symptoms of wrong focus, confess to God, and ask for help. Psalm 73 points out four signs of wrong focus:
- Struggle with envy.
- Need for clarity.
- Struggle with discouragement.
- Struggle with anger.
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. – Jn 14:21
Getting Personal with Christ
At some point, we all face adversity. I desire to honor God in all seasons of life by remaining prayerful in all matters, faithful in my example to others, and obedient to the teachings of scripture. If you genuinely love God, you will keep his commandments, but it comes down to a heart issue. Here’s the brutal reality: Our obedience reflects our love for Jesus. Needing to trust in Christ and then choosing to do so results in Him making a home more profound in my heart. My trust allows my soul to grow in God’s love for me continuously. How much do you love the Lord? How willing are you to be obedient regardless of life’s circumstances?
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. – Jn 14:15
In times of suffering, I know God is teaching, shaping, and molding me. Jeremiah 17 is a hallmark passage for biblical counseling. We often teach this passage because it highlights what is fundamentally wrong with our hearts: we have been made to trust God, but innately, we choose to trust in our flesh instead. Eternity is the most critical dimension to consider when difficulties come:
- Trials and suffering destroy the myth that the goal of life is to get as much as I can. Trials and suffering remind me that the best earthly situations and experiences can pass away. Sometimes quite suddenly.
- Trials help me realize who God is and the meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- God’s love calls me back from hope in the world to hope in him. And in his love, he is preparing me for the real thing: eternal glory.
Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” – Je 17:5-8
How well do you know the God of the scriptures? Where do you draw your strength during the hard days? Trials and suffering are inevitable, even for believers. They will come. But those who draw their sustenance from the Lord will survive and flourish like a tree planted by water. Even when the drought and heat come, the tree planted by water does not fear or grow anxious. God Himself is the living water for the tree. We need water to live.
Jesus said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” – Jn 4:10-14
Getting Personal With Faith and Service
Let’s return to Romans 8:28, where we see the familiar response to life’s difficulties. In Romans 8:29, Paul tells us what the good is. God does work these things together for our good—the best among that good is that we are transformed into the image of Christ. He is changing my heart – how I live, what fruit I bear, and how I can best serve God and others. This passage and its truths are crucial to keeping forefront in our minds.
2 Corinthians 1 describes how, as we experience the comfort of God, then God puts into our lives more and more people who need the same comfort that we have received. This comes back to where Paul is talking about this thorn in the flesh given to him to humble him.
It’s pretty possible that suffering makes us more valuable, provided we respond in humility and faith. And in our weakness, we see Jesus Christ as strong. He comes alongside us. And rather than getting stuck in our circumstances, we can have joy! That joy is lived out in faith and service.
Wouldn’t you like to stand up to any trial, problem, danger, or threat and be able to say confidently, “It really doesn’t matter? I know that God will work it together for good. I want only to do His will and glorify Him.” That degree of peace depends on an intimate knowledge of God’s wisdom.
Application
The Word says this life is a vapor, and all its difficulties will disappear. But with the hope to come, we can be secure now. Our life is not determined by or at the mercy of our experiences. Our security determines our life in a Savior who is raised from the dead and who the Bible promises is coming once again. He will return for us and to redeem us in total, both body and soul. We will spend an eternity with him forever!
When we consider our present realities in this light, we need to replace not simply the superficial worldly messages we need to replace consistently, but a complete renewal of the mind where our hope is fixed. Paul would encourage us to think about things above, and that is to come, the promises that are sure in Christ. In Christ Jesus, we have hope!
The very glory of heaven is that we shall see him, that same Christ who once died upon Calvary’s cross, that we shall fall down, and worship at his feet, nay more, that he shall kiss us with the kisses of his mouth, and welcome us to dwell with him forever.
– Charles Spurgeon
Are you hopeless in your times of pain and suffering? You can have eternal hope if you admit you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, repent of those sins, and place trust in Jesus as the son of God willing and able to forgive completely. If you have trusted in Jesus Christ, you have a living hope. My prayer for you and me is that our focus will always be on the resurrection hope of heaven.
As our outer person is wasting away, we see the inner person being renewed by faith in what’s to come, that Jesus will be vital in all our weaknesses, and that brings us comfort. When he comes back, he will make all things new. This is eternal and beautiful hope.
Further Thought
Read Romans 15:13, Romans 12:12, Romans 8:24-25, 1 Peter 1:13, and pray Psalms 18:1.
You can receive this series, How to Sustain Hope in Pain and Suffering, by email. To do so, be sure you subscribe to my blog. The primary resources for this series are:
Suffering Wisely and Well by Eric Ortlund
Suffering by Paul Tripp
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
Debbie Swindell 