Blessed in Suffering

Job 10:18, “Why did you bring me out of the womb?”

These past two weeks I have been teaching Pastoral Counseling, which answers why I have been typically just posting articles from others and some other inquisitive posts regarding the election.

One topic seems to poke its little head out in the counseling circles all the time. This creature, though it lacks no real description, reeks havoc, confusion and all around disgust and discouragement for almost anyone that comes into contact with it. Guaranteed that at some point we will all face this monster, though you will have no way to tell anyone what it is, except by what you are feeling.

You just ‘know’ it is evil because there is no ‘good’ that came truly come out of it. We can only describe the atrocities, but we can not give a clear name to it, but suffering and evil certainly fit. Babies dying, being killed; women being raped or abused; cancer, diabetes, and many other ailments fall into this category, but what lies behind them we cannot give a face to, but only a name.

Job is a great example of someone who seemed to suffer for no apparent reason in life. We know from the beginning of the story as to why Job suffered, but Job didn’t. Think about this for a moment. Within a few short days, maybe a week, you literally lose everything. Your children are killed, your wealth is taken, your body is ravaged, and your wife tells you to curse God and die. If anyone can say that he was having a bad week, it was Job. He never knew this side of Heaven why in the world he went through this. We know and it helps us rationalize the situation, but put yourself in Job’s place for a moment. He does not know and never attains an answer to any of his questions.

Don’t you think at least Job would have deserved an answer? God, Himself, tells Jobs unhelpful friends that he was righteous and spoke to God correctly; while the ‘healthy’ people did not. Yet, God is silent about why! At least in the physical realm, as we know He is not in the Spiritual realm, as there is a battle going on, or at least it appears to Satan that way. God knows what will happen in the end.

Job goes through this and though he does not get an answer he attains something more. If you notice he attains his true blessing before God restores his health and everything else. Job says in 42:2-6, “I know that You can do everything, And no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without Knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ ‘I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eyes sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.’”

This should literally blow your mind. Wow! Here is Job in complete misery, nothing yet has been healed or restored. He says that he abhors himself, meaning he hates himself, because he now saw God, not in his blessings, but his suffering. Not while he was ‘happy,’ but in his turmoil. The suffering in one important aspect was for Job, because in the end he was able to know God truly.

There are times in our lives where we will suffer, and that will differ for all of us. Some of us will suffer for short periods, while others will suffer for longer periods. Our suffering may be known to us at times, as it is because we chose to partake in fun that ended in a broken bone, or we chose some sin that ends in suffering. Other times we are suffering for no apparent reason, and we wonder why. Maybe we should change that to why not. Why not you or me?

Maybe, just maybe, we should see it as a blessing. We should try to change our mindset in our suffering. God believed in you so much that He allowed, or chose you to demonstrate His love through this time of pain or hurt. He knows that you can show Christ, even in light of what you are going through, even if you never get an answer. If we truly see ourselves in light of God, as Job finally did, we then understand, “see,” that we have no right to ask God why we are going through this turmoil, but we see Him for who He is, and we live our lives accordingly.

We can certainly tell our Father of our pain and work through it with Him, but in reality He owes us no explanation. Job tried, and it did not work. God just turned the tables on him and put him in his place. Can we hurt, cry and pray for a release? Sure, but be prepared to hear no, as Paul heard, and realize that you are His and He is not yours. Be blessed that He chose you to go through what you are suffering, as He knows that if you rely on Him you will make it through, even if that means going home to Heaven.

When you suffer, represent Christ in it and you will be blessed. You may even get to “see” God. You might not know why you are suffering, as there may be a spiritual battle being waged and God chose you to be part. That is an honor. No battle is without suffering, and the battle between Satan and God is being waged on this earth and we are God’s soldiers. We rest in the fact that God will bring good out of this because we our His and He tell us that even suffering will be used for His purpose, which is always good, even though it might not be for us, but those watching; which in the end is good for you as well, because it is good for God.

See the blessing even in your suffering as Job did.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”