Suffering is most certainly something that is part of our human condition, part of our lives here upon this earth. No one can escape suffering; the rich and successful, the poor and destitute, the strong and courageous and the weak and decrepit. All have experienced suffering at one time or another. But the question is asked, “Why does God allow suffering?” “Why does He allow human beings who He loves so much that He laid down his life for, to suffer?”
And why is it that many times we see the wicked prospering and getting ahead in life? At the same time that we view the wicked becoming more and more successful, we realize that, although we serve God with all our hearts, our lives are a constant struggle. Yes, we have all our basic needs met but our neighbour just got a brand new car and we are driving something that looks like it belongs in a museum.
A famous evangelist told the following incident: I have a friend who in a time of business recession lost his job, a sizable fortune, and his beautiful home. To add to his sorrow, his precious wife died; yet he tenaciously held to his faith—the only thing he had left. One day when he was out walking in search of employment, he stopped to watch some men who were doing stonework on a large church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece of rock. “Where are you going to put that?” he asked. The workman said, “Do you see that little opening up there near the spire? Well, I’m shaping this stone down here so that it will fit in up there.” Tears filled my friend’s eyes as he walked away, for the Lord had spoken to him through that labourer whose words gave new meaning to his troubled situation.
In 1 Peter 4:12 we read, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” Let me ask you something: Was there a great controversy going on in the early Christian church between Christ and Satan? Yes, there most certainly was! We know for a fact that when Peter wrote these words that the fierce persecutions of Nero were soon to scorch the church. At this point, the early Christian church was being harassed on all sides by the Jews and the Romans; however, this harassment was only a preparation for the holocaust which would soon come. Satan tried every scheme imaginable; he tried every trick up his sleeve to try to destroy the early Christian church in its infancy before any more souls were won to Christ.
If there was a warfare going on between Jesus and Satan at that time, is there also a warfare going on today? Yes, most certainly, we know that the final struggle between Jesus and Satan is almost upon us. If we actually believe that there is a great trial about to come upon us as God’s final people then we can also heed the words that Peter spoke to the church in his day because they are just as relevant for us today. We should not expect that, as time goes on, we will go through less trials and troubles, but rather we must know that as long as the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan rages over the souls of men, the Christian can expect a wide array of tests which are designed by Satan to completely destroy his faith in God.
In the book of Job, we can read an important principle about the life sufferings that each one of us is called to bear. “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst Me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth Thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse Thee to Thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.” Job 2:3–6. This very important principle is that none of the suffering that any of us is called upon to endure comes from God, but rather Satan is the author of all sickness, suffering, and death. However, God overrules in the trials that we must bear by making them the means of developing character in His children. It is Jesus that turns a very negative experience and one that causes us heartache and sadness into a positive experience. With Jesus every cloud has a silver lining, but we can only see this silver lining if we look through eyes of faith. Does not every trial and struggle become so much more manageable when we know that this specific trial, this specific hardship will be the means of our salvation if we allow it to be?
If we humble our hearts and allow Jesus full sway in our lives then we can know of a surety that every hardship is bringing us one step closer to the everlasting kingdom. “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee.” Job 42:5 This is probably the most important verse in all of Job because it is in this verse that Job admits that his previous knowledge of God was based on hearsay. In this statement, Job reveals the transition from a religious experience shaped by tradition to an experience based on personal communion with God. While growing up, Job had learned that in this present life God would deliver the righteous from all evil and they would not be called upon to experience any real suffering. Even during his suffering he didn’t fully understand the part that God was playing in all this and the attitude of his friends only confused his mind further.
“Now Job has seen God. He knows that God possesses infinite power and graciousness, and he also knows that, even though he may suffer, he is God’s child. God has made no attempt to explain to him why he suffers, but he is convinced that, whatever the reason, he need have no misgivings. Job’s experience has taught him the meaning of faith. His vision of God has enabled him to surrender to the divine will. His commitment to God is now unaffected by his circumstances. He no longer expects temporal blessings as an evidence of Heaven’s favor. His relationship to God is now on a firmer, more dependable basis than before. Job found a solution to his problems when he discovered that God was not limited by the traditions men had developed concerning Him. This broader understanding that Job reveals when he says, ‘Now mine eye seeth Thee,’ is akin to the experience of faith that is emphasized so strongly throughout the Scriptures.” –Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 610
It mentions here that “Job no longer expected temporal blessings as an evidence of Heaven’s favour.” How many Christians today view luxury and material possessions or riches as evidence that the grace of God is shining down upon them? I think we need a new perspective on temporal blessings. Rather than temporal blessings being evidence of heaven’s favor perhaps it is hardship and suffering that proves to us that heaven itself is shining down upon us. When you really think about suffering and trials they prove to us that God still thinks we are worth it. If God sees that we have a sincere desire to serve Him, then He allows Satan to trouble and harass us; and this is something Satan does as an attempt to shake our faith in God and destroy us. By allowing Satan to trouble and harass us Jesus knows that if we are completely connected to Him, rather than our faith being shaken it will be strengthened, and rather than our character being destroyed it will be shaped and molded to be like His character. However, if we are not connected to Christ we will not be able to weather the storm and our spiritual lives will be in grave danger.
If at any point in an individual’s life they have completely closed their heart to the Holy Spirit and have rejected the light they have been given, this is when Satan does not bother to trouble or harass them anymore. He has no reason to trouble or harass them because they have become his agents—pawns in his game of chess. And because they are no longer experiencing trials and tribulations and life has become easy, rather than this being a positive thing, their characters and morals become more and more weak and vacillating. This is when Christians tend to look upon these people and think, “why do they get to live easy and cushy lives while we are stuck dealing with trials?”
All throughout Earth’s History God’s church has been in the most danger, not when they were being cast to the lions or burned at the stake, but rather when things were easy. When things were easy that is when Christian people tended to become lukewarm, which of course is the Laodicean condition, and it is the trap that every one of us today is in danger of falling into. “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Hebrews 12: 10–11. How interesting are the words “no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous.”
Let us think back to when each one of us were children and our parents gave us rules and restrictions and provided discipline for us. At the time we usually resented this discipline and even fought against it. However, when children reach adulthood they realize how valuable the discipline their parents gave them was. They realize that it truly helped to shape and mold their character like nothing else could. A recognition that the reason they are the person that they are today is because of their parents, is a sign of maturity. If we are truly mature Christians we should be thankful for the challenging experiences the Lord brings us through in life. We should be thankful while we are going through these experiences, and afterwards when we reflect at how miraculously the Lord has led our lives.
The only reason that Jesus puts us through divine discipline is for our own character transformation, with perfection being the ultimate goal. He does it because He loves us infinitely and when we resist His discipline and get angry at Him it makes Him sad; it also shows immaturity on our part as Christians. Can we not see that these tests and trials are ultimately our ticket to heaven?
Think of it this way, if we can be thankful for how our parents, through discipline, have made us who we are as people, should we not be that much more thankful to God for how He has shaped and molded our characters? Although our parents have made mistakes with us and may at times have treated us unfairly despite doing their best, however, every experience God puts us through is fair, and just, and exactly what we need to be saved. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes. The law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” Psalms 119: 71–72. David realized that it was actually a real positive that he had experienced many challenging and difficult experiences in his life. Through these difficult experiences he was able to come to a fuller understanding of the Lord and His statutes. And by coming to a deeper and fuller understanding of God’s law he had also come to a deeper appreciation of it. Isn’t that often how it is in life that the more we understand something the more we are thankful for it?
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Corinthians 4:17. When we think of the word “affliction,” do pleasant ideas and images come to our mind? No! The word “affliction” certainly has some negative connotations even when it is combined with the word light. But affliction is very necessary because it causes all the pride of the human heart to be humbled and it allows our will to come into complete harmony with God’s will.
When we are surrounded by affliction on every side we have no choice but to exercise our faith in order to rise above all that besets us. And it is by exercising our faith that our faith becomes stronger and still stronger. When going through affliction the true believer realizes that all human wisdom and strength is nothing and the only thing that can possibly save him from his predicament is God Himself. Therefore, it helps us to realize our need of God, our complete and total dependence upon Him. Therefore, when any one of us goes through affliction this helps to prepare us and makes our characters fit for the eternal kingdom in a very real way.
When we have been in heaven for a million years all the suffering on this earth, all the hardships will seem as nothing when we realize what we have gained through a few short years of suffering. We have gained eternity to be spent with our Lord and Saviour. It is then that we will realize how light our suffering actually was, compared to what we got in return.
The famous preacher, D.L. Moody, told about a Christian woman who was always bright, cheerful, and optimistic, even though she was confined to her room because of illness. She lived in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of an old, rundown building. A friend decided to visit her one day and brought along another woman—a person of great wealth. Since there was no elevator, the two ladies began the long climb upward. When they reached the second floor, the well-to-do woman commented, “What a dark and filthy place!” Her friend replied, “It’s better higher up.” When they arrived at the third landing, the remark was made, “Things look even worse here.” Again the reply, “It’s better higher up.” The two women finally reached the attic level, where they found the bedridden saint of God. A smile on her face radiated the joy that filled her heart. Although the room was clean and flowers were on the window sill, the wealthy visitor could not get over the stark surroundings in which this woman lived. She blurted out, “It must be very difficult for you to be here like this!” Without a moment’s hesitation the shut-in responded, “It’s better higher up.” She was not looking at temporal things. With the eye of faith fixed on the eternal, she had found the secret of true satisfaction and contentment.
Let that be the motto of our lives that, “It’s better higher up.” Even when people look at us and say, “Wow, it seems as if because of your faith you’re struggling to find a job because you cannot work on the Sabbath,” or, when they bring attention to the fact that we live simply and humbly with our basic necessities being met but not with all the material possession and luxuries of life. That is when we can say, “It’s better higher up.”
“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of His correction: For whom the LORD loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” Proverbs 3:11–12. We clearly see that the Lord will only ever correct and chasten us from a heart filled with love for us. No other motive would cause the Lord to allow trials and tribulations to come upon us. It is because the Lord sees our heart, our desire to serve Him, and He wants to do everything possible to strengthen that desire.
It is interesting that most of the Psalms were born in difficulty. Most of the Epistles were written in prisons. Most of the greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers of all time had to pass through the fire. Bunyan wrote Pilgrim’s Progress from jail. Florence Nightingale, too ill to move from her bed, reorganized the hospitals of England. Semi-paralyzed and under the constant menace of apoplexy, Pasteur was tireless in his attack on disease. During the greater part of his life, American historian Francis Parkman suffered so acutely that he could not work for more than five minutes at a time. His eyesight was so wretched that he could scrawl only a few gigantic words on a manuscript, yet he contrived to write twenty magnificent volumes of history.
Sometimes it seems that when God is about to make preeminent use of a man, He puts him through the fire. When the emperor Valens threatened Eusebuis with confiscation of all his goods, torture, banishment, or even death, the courageous Christian replied, “He needs not fear confiscation, who has nothing to lose; nor banishment, to whom heaven is his country; nor torments, when our weak bodies can be destroyed at one blow; nor death, which is the only way to set him at liberty from sin and sorrow.”
Many of you have probably heard at one time or another a friend of yours say that they hope their children do not have to experience the hardships that they went through. Next time you hear someone say that, tell them that, although it is beautiful to wish the best for their children, however, it is the hardships they experienced that made them who they are today. Each one of us can receive disadvantages in our life and one disadvantage may be that we never experienced any trials or tribulations. Everything was always too easy and as a result our characters are weak and immoral, or as a result when we finally do have to face trials (because everyone will face tough times at some time or another in their lives) they have no strength or courage to face these trials.
It is my wish and prayer, brothers and sisters that we will realize that, although God does not cause suffering or pain, He does permit Satan to buffet us. The reason God allows this is because He knows that without trials we will be eternally lost and it is only through trials that our characters can become beautiful; we can learn to depend wholly on God, and be fit to spend eternity with Him. Therefore, let us rejoice and praise the Lord that He allows sadness and suffering to enter our lives because it is only in this way that we will experience all the joy and happiness of heaven. AMEN.
Richard Eaton