Silver Linings in Dark Places
Surveying the various good outcomes God frequently produces from our agonies requires a careful word of caution.
Because knowing the mind of God is impossible (Romans 11:33-34), discerning His intentions demands humility. Though it is true that God may have a singular goal for our afflictions, His desired end is often multifaceted and complex. You may understand something of God's design for your hardships, but the full breadth of His intentions is often incomprehensible.
Grasping for understanding of what God might be teaching you is commendable, but speaking dogmatically for Him is not. We should be proactive in order to grow, without being presumptuous regarding the Lord. With these boundaries in place, the following list is by no means comprehensive. These are just some of the beneficial results God brings into our lives through our suffering.
Trials Grow and Strengthen Our Faith
Because God is more concerned with our character than our comfort, sometimes He chooses to use calamity in order to sanctify us. James 1:2-4 explains:
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
- If ease or happiness is your primary goal in life, you will likely feel frustrated and betrayed when God chooses to deepen your maturity through a trial.
The potential for meaningful development and growth, however, may be greatest when we are hurting the most. Will you eagerly follow a God who will likely break you in order to mature your commitment to Him?
Before Carson was sick, I confess that my life was relatively easy — no major heartache and few serious problems to weather. This first real challenge to my faith tested everything I said I believed. Even though I had preached for more than a decade with an adequate knowledge of the Scriptures, suddenly my situation forced me to reckon with my confidence in the fundamentals of my faith.
Surface faith will not suffice when circumstances threaten what you treasure most in life.
I am thankful that throughout our dilemma, my confidence in God's truth only deepened. Before I might have told you what I believe about Christianity. Today I can tell you what I know from firsthand experience.
Trials Deepen Our Fellowship with Jesus and Reveal His Strength
When speaking about his primary goal for living, the apostle Paul reminds disciples of Jesus of the need to seek to
know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. — Philippians 3:10
Though most of us are eager to experience the power of Christ's resurrection, we are less enthusiastic about the fellowship of His sufferings. Do not forget, however, that the agony of Golgotha preceded the glory of His victory over the grave. As we learned previously, experiencing the power of Christ's resurrection begins on the road of heartache.
In a similar way, receiving God's power in our lives will require enduring great wounds without wavering. Apart from suffering, we simply cannot learn about God or relate to Him on an intimate level. Believing that God is real and present is one thing; trusting that He is enough, no matter what we face, is another thing entirely.
Though we are quite capable of cognitively grasping these ideas, we cannot embrace them fully until we experience their reality for ourselves.
- Trials force us to move beyond superficial knowledge of Jesus into a meaningful, daily walk with Him.
Even those who believe the gospel and claim a relationship with God sometimes fail to live in light of their commitment. Tragically, though we know God is there, we seldom feel like we need Him. Before Carson's diagnosis, I often preached about the peace of God, but I seldom felt like I needed it. My prayer life was consistent, but it left much to be desired. I read my Bible to prepare sermons, but I rarely did so with desperation to hear from the Lord. My outward obedience was, at times, lacking the inward fellowship with God that I now crave.
Maybe you can relate. Do you pray more when times are tough? Is your Bible always close by when you are searching for answers? Is your church worship attendance noticeably more frequent when things have gone awry in your life? Why are these patterns so apparent? Stated simply, it's because suffering forces us to live what we really believe. Thus, the Lord beckons us into a deeper, more meaningful fellowship with Jesus through the doorway of hardship. In our weakness, we move from having a cognitive awareness of His strength to experiencing the personal peace it brings.
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