Are You Willing to Embrace the Hard With the Good?
Hardship is not a popular topic. “Three Reasons You Should Embrace Suffering,” is probably not going to make a list of best-selling book titles.
Yet in our lives as believers, hardship is something we must embrace. Popular Christian preachers tell us God doesn’t want suffering in our lives. They say that we should always be healed instantly, and were created to be healthy, wealthy, and happy.
We call this teaching a prosperity doctrine. There are real dangers in this teaching as it does not line up with the whole counsel of God in Scripture. In my last blog, I wrote about the ten most important things that must develop in a cross-cultural worker’s life. Willingness to suffer made the list.
Difficulty and Lordship
Unless we are willing to embrace a life of difficulty, we will not become effective ministers. This begins with a deep, heart-felt, surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. We also need a firmly held, foundational belief, in the goodness of God, no matter what happens.
We can not choose to accept blessing from God, but get angry when hardship comes. We must learn to trust His divine plan, and hold tightly to Him in the midst of suffering. He longs to comfort and hold us when hardship hits, yet so often we push Him away.
As we bow to His Lordship in worship, we experience supernatural peace and are filled with hope. As we surrender to a God we trust, He is released to use suffering in our lives. God prunes, refines, and makes us into fruit-bearing disciples that bring Him glory. Ultimately, it is in surrender that we find fulfillment, depth of intimacy with Him, and unexplainable joy.
Difficulty Upon Difficulty
As I write this, I sit in a special chair designed to take the pressure off my back. Over the past few months, I’ve suffered from an injury that caused a lot of pain. It’s been hard to function. I improve a bit, then have a setback. The pain returns. On top of that, these past few months I have had serious dental problems. I got sick with COVID 19, fell and twisted my ankle and knee as well. Let’s just say, I’ve had my share of physical challenges lately.
Those things may be nothing compared to what you are facing. You might suffer from chronic pain that has lasted for years. You may have lost a loved one this past month, or struggle to have enough food to eat. While my challenges may not be as bad as yours, they are real for me. I need God’s help and grace.
Your challenges are real for you too, be they great or small. Life can be hard, very hard, sometimes. When we face difficulty though, God wants to reveal Himself to us in new ways. He longs to hold and be there for us.
By God’s grace, I’ve learned a few things about suffering over the past thirty years in missions. Though these past few months haven’t been easy, I’m drawing on those lessons. I’m still learning, but I hope what I have to share will bring encouragement to your heart.
You, therefore, must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2 Tim 2:3 NKJV
Why We Embrace Suffering
1. How we suffer as believers, is a witness to the unsaved.
Many world religions have a theology that says suffering is to be avoided. Buddhists talk about the removal of desire. If you don’t want anything, you can’t suffer. Hindus blame hardship on bad karma and say that it is caused by sin in a previous life.
Our theology is different. The Word of God is clear. The cause of suffering is living in a sinful, dying world in need of a Savior and Redeemer. Though personal sin does have it’s consequences in our lives, suffering isn’t always caused by our own sin. The simple fact that we live in a broken world means we will get sick and experience hardship.
Jesus wants to walk with us through difficulties, to sustain, and empower us to live in victory. We draw close to Him, crying out for His help (sometimes on a minute by minute basis.) He doesn’t ask us to pretend things aren’t hard. He promises to help! God longs to give courage and strength to face difficulties with grace, our confidence in His goodness and love. When we live like this, it speaks louder to the world around us then any sermon we could preach.
2. Suffering and trials bring maturity.
Romans 5:3-5 teaches that difficulty and trials grow perseverance in us. This leads to character and hope. It is not easy to hold on to hope during times of intense trial. Despair and hopelessness threaten to overwhelm our troubled hearts. We have need of endurance.
As a long-distance runner, I know that to complete a marathon you must endure many painful training runs. You push through the pain so you can run a bit further the next day. It’s part of the process of increasing your strength. It’s not enjoyable at the moment, but on race day, when you cross the finish line, it’s all worth it.
Today we endure, so tomorrow we cross the finish line having lived faithful and fruitful lives for the Kingdom.
3. Difficulty is part of God’s pruning process that leads to fruitfulness.
In a recent broadcast, Darlene Cunningham, one of the founders of Youth With A Mission, spoke about pruning. It’s not pleasant to be pruned. In India, where we lived for so long, there were many tea estates. The tea farmers regularly prune the tea bushes. After pruning, they are quite ugly. Pruning is necessary for them to produce new leaves in the next season.
Pruning means loss of the old. We liked those old branches! They were comfortable and we were used to them. When we lose something dear, we mourn and grieve that loss. This is appropriate. At the same time, we embrace the loss and ask God to sustain us in that time of ugliness until the new life begins to grow. We can be confident, that as we abide in Him, the new will come. And with it, an increase in fruit from our lives.
4. As we embrace hardship, we have increased fellowship with Christ.
Paul wrote that he wanted to know Christ and have fellowship with Him in suffering (Phil. 3:10). Jesus suffered both in His life and in His death. He was persecuted, beaten, wrongly accused and ultimately murdered. Jesus understands what we are going through. As we hold tightly to Him in hardship, we meet Him in a way we never could had we not suffered. We grow in intimacy and closeness to Him as we go through a tiny taste of what He experienced here on earth.
God Isn’t Cruel
Let me be clear. God isn’t a cruel, vindictive God who brings pain into our lives to punish us, nor because He enjoys watching us struggle. He is a good Father who wants us to be free, happy, full of life, and for His Kingdom to come in our lives and on this planet. His future Kingdom is one where there are no more tears, pain, sickness, death, or difficulty!
But we aren’t there yet. The path forward involves hardship as we are formed into His image, as His Kingdom comes on earth through us. So we endure. We pray and cry, and draw close to the Comforter, asking that His glory be made manifest in our lives, especially in our hardest days.
How has suffering shaped your character or increased the fruitfulness of your life? We’d love to hear your stories, comments, or questions in the comments below or in our Missionary Life Facebook Group.