I have been thinking about the purpose for our suffering lately. Peter addresses this issue a lot in I Peter. Studying this book has given me a greater understanding of the purpose in suffering and also how to respond to suffering.
But the most encouraging scripture to me is in II Corinthians 1:3-7 which states:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort."
This is powerful stuff! God is the God of all comforts!! He comforts us in our trouble so that He can use us to comfort others in their trouble.
Do you see the difficult things that you have faced in life as something that God allowed so that you could be useful to others?
How have you seen God use your trouble to be a comfort to someone else?
4 comments:
We suffer so that Christ's power may rest on us.
The Laughlin family is finding foster care much more challenging than we had imagined. It's not exactly suffering, but I'm definitely being molded by God and learning some important things.
KG,
Awesome! thanks for the reminder of why God allows us to suffer... So that we comfort others. For some sick reason :) i really love that idea right now as my family and I suffer in partnering with God to start a church.
It's all worth it.
Steve,
Yes, I have seen God at work in the midst of some of my darkest hours. I think of II Cor. 12:7-10 where Paul's thorn in the flesh allowed him to see Christ in him. As Paul said "when I am weak, then I am strong"
Aaron,
Glad that this was an encouragement to you. These things encourage me as well. To remember that God does not want to make our lives bad, but that sometimes things are hard for a purpose. I think of the man born blind. His disciples asked Jesus "who sinned that the man was born blind?" Jesus said that he was born blind that God's glory might be seen. (Rough paraphrase) There is often a greater purpose than the small view that we see.
Grace and peace to you bro. Keep runnin the race.
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