Suffering is Good
God had one Son without sin; He has no sons without suffering. St. Augustine
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything. James 1:2
"James, are you crazy? Welcome trials and sufferings; are you daft? This proves that the Scriptures are not inerrant. How could this statement to welcome suffering be the Word of God?" It would make sense if it said, "Consider it pure joy each time God takes away your trials." At least that reading harmonizes with the values at work in the world and the average church prayer meeting today.
Since we have been nourished so long on the hog swill of the world, we find a statement like James’ quite alarming. Though we say we agree with Paul in his desire to follow Christ, we find that we only agree about the benefits but not the cost. Paul said in Philippians 3:7-10, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead." Evelyn Christensen has astutely pointed out that we are only two/thirds disciples:
That I may (1) know him, and (2) the power of His resurrection, and (3) the fellowship of his sufferings. But how common it is for us to want to know only the first two-thirds of what Christianity is all about - Him and power. But the remaining third - the fellowship of His sufferings - we so frequently leave off our list of wants. Evelyn Cristensen
None of us oppose the part of the Gospel that tells us about all the good things coming to us upon surrendering our hearts to Christ. However, we think the part about "suffering with Christ" was meant for the poor souls in the rest of the world.
So you accepted Him, and felt you had the right to expect the bumps of life to smooth out. . . But the right to be free from suffering and difficulties was not one of them. In fact, according to Scripture, that seems to be one of the rights you lost the moment you became Christ’s Evelyn Cristensen
There are so many books on the shelves of Christian bookstores and seminary libraries whose purpose is to help us find comfort and success in this life. The percentage of filler in newer books continues to rise, and the nutrition value continues to decrease. Through reading many of these books, the hopes and expectations of the reader are stirred up, only to be dashed to pieces when they have to face reality. They promise potential converts that their journey to heaven will be smooth, comfortable and uneventful when the truth is quite the opposite.
I remember quite a few years ago, as I read what later became a classic text on the last days and the Lord’s Coming, that one of seven reasons given to support the belief in the Pre-tribulation Rapture was that "Christ would not allow his church to suffer." Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, Isaiah and many other saints through the ages would call that "pure baloney." The idea sounds delightful, but it is just the opposite of the truth.
The Scriptures and church history tell us again and again that the saints were persecuted and suffered many atrocities, some worse than crucifixion. We think that that happened because their times were different than ours, but I am coming to realize that it was because they were different than we are. The Scriptures abound with texts that say that Christ’s followers will suffer for their faith.
Jesus must therefore make it clear beyond all doubt that the ’must’ of suffering applies to his disciples no less than to himself. Just as Christ is Christ only in virtue of his suffering and rejection, so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord’s suffering and rejection and crucifixion. Dietrich Boenhoffer
For that is the highest thing that men want, to have joy and happiness and to be without trouble. Now Christ turns the page and says exactly the opposite; He calls "blessed" those who sorrow and mourn. Thus throughout, all these statements are aimed and directed against the world’s way of thinking, the way it would like to have things. It does not want to endure hunger, trouble, dishonor, unpopularity, injustice, and violence; and it calls "blessed" those who can avoid all these things. . . . a Christian must count on sorrow and mourning in the world. Martin Marty
Jesus was a model for us in so many ways. We are to be imitators of him. "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps" (I Pet. 2:21). Through Peter, the Holy Spirit also said, Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin" (I Pet. 4:12). If we are the least bit serious about following Jesus, we will have to pay for that commitment with suffering.
Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means passio passiva, suffering because we have to suffer. That is why Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true church, and one of the memoranda drawn up in preparation for the Augsburg Confession similarly defines the Church as the community of those ’who are persecuted and martyred for the gospel’s sake’. If we refuse to take up our cross and submit to suffering and rejection at the hands of men, we forfeit our fellowship with Christ and have ceased to follow him.
Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer. In fact it is a joy and a token of his grace. Dietrich Boenhoffer
Thomas Paine wrote, "Summer soldiers and sunshine patriots will not in this crisis come to the aid of their country." In this same way, "fair weather" Christians will make no impact on the lost world nor will receive much recognition on "decoration day."
We Protestants want to take the image of Jesus off the cross and concentrate on the empty tomb. We say it is because Jesus is alive and we want to emphasize the victory in Christ. But could it be that we don’t want to be identified with a bleeding, suffering Savior who calls us to also suffer with him? Charles Spurgeon said, "There are no crown-wearers in heaven who were not cross-bearers here below."
Jesus hath now many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His cross. He hath many desirous of consolation, but few of tribulation. He findeth many companions at His table, but few of His abstinence. All desire to rejoice with Him, few are willing to endure for Him. Many praise and bless Him so long as they receive any consolation from Him. Thomas á Kempis
Sources of suffering
Suffering can come from many sources and for many reasons. Often, we suffer as a consequence of our own sin. Other times, God disciplines us to correct us. Still others, we suffer because we are on Christ’s side and are identified with him so that the world persecutes us. Unfortunately, there are times when we suffer at the hands of other Christians as did the Ana-baptists at the hands of the Protestants and Catholics.
Suffering for Christ’s glory can take many forms. First there can be ridicule, then rejection and shunning, then economic and social persecution, then physical suffering, then death. We see in Job that Satan was the attacker and accuser (Job 1:6-11 ). The Scriptures tell us that he is like a prosecuting attorney who is the accuser of believers (Rev 12:10). Also, there is suffering and sickness which come from the hand of God. "In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: My son, do no make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son" (Heb. 12:4-8).
Elements of Suffering
Rejection
Jesus was the stone which the builders rejected (I Pet. 2:4). The worldly, power-hungry, religious leaders didn’t want a Messiah who threatened the social and civil status quo, or who couldn’t even save himself from capture and death. If we follow Jesus openly, the world will reject us. True Christianity will never be viewed as respectable by the world. "The cross is to those who are perishing, foolishness." But to many modern-day "Christians", the cross is also foolishness: something to be shunned.
When we meet a man who, with simplicity of mind, has accepted the gospel’s "foolishness," we admire him and are moved by him, but we are also embarrassed by him. Gerald Kennedy
Often, new converts embarrass us no end because they believe every word in the book. Vance Havner used to tell how he was preaching in a church and a young man got converted. Thereafter, every night during the campaign, he was on the front row with his ears and eyes open taking in everything he could. Vance says he prayed, "Lord, please don’t let him catch on." He was hoping that the man wouldn’t notice that the deacons were not nearly as so fervent about their love for the Lord.
We older Christians are often afraid of being rejected or despised, or that people would think we are foolish or fanatical. The early disciples were just the opposite. When Peter and John were imprisoned and beaten for preaching the Gospel, they were overjoyed. They considered it a great honor to have suffered disgrace for the Name (Acts 5:41). Paul and Silas also were beaten severely and put in prison. They were so happy to have suffered for Jesus’ Name that they stayed awake singing and praising God until midnight. (Acts 16:22-25). Apparently they understood the honor it was to be identified with Jesus in his rejection and sufferings.
Persecution
Being identified with Christ means persecution by the world. John 3:19-20 tells us that as the light of God appeared in the world, the world was condemned by its presence because its deeds were evil. Therefore, the world tries to put out the light in any way possible. We "lesser lights" are not immune since our right-side-up manner of living is a threat to the status quo that needs to be eliminated.
Lest therefore the severity of the cross should dismay us, let us always have present to our view this condition of the Church, that as we are adopted in Christ, we are appointed to the slaughter. For whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of his fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil. The special focus of suffering for believers is often persecution for the faith. If we defend the gospel, or righteousness in general, we leave ourselves open to persecution. John Calvin
Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth, returned to the part of China where she grew up as the daughter of a missionary surgeon. When her father first arrived to begin his medical work there, he had been greeted by James Graham (no relation), a veteran missionary who had been there a quarter of a century. James Graham would often come home in the evening covered with the spittle of those who had jeered at the "foreign devil" as he preached in the marketplace. His wife would frequently find him black and blue from being pelted with stones. In twenty-five years that man had seen twenty-five converts to Jesus Christ. Today, in that same region of China, there are an estimated 140,000 followers of Jesus Christ. Leighton Ford
If such a thing happened to us modern-day Christians, we would call the Human Rights Commission and have the persecutors hung up by their thumbs. We would call our congressman and lobby for international pressure to be brought to bear. We can’t believe that Christians could be treated like this.
However, this suffering phobia is pretty much a trait of Christians of our age and in Western countries. Throughout the history of the church, most Christians thought suffering was a normal part of the Christian life.
I used to go to the meetings of the Salvation Army. I walked in their processions, and I tell you it was worthwhile in those days; there were old boots, wood, stones, rotten eggs and oranges thrown at us. None of my friends recognized me in the street, and all the young men who were fond of me walked on the other side. Wife of C. T. Studd
II Timothy 3:12 tells us that "everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted." How many of us modern saints have been to prison for our faith? Some of us have been there for other reasons and some have met the Lord there, but most of us avoid prison like the plague. "It’s just not respectable for a Christian to be in jail", yet the Bible and the history books are filled with accounts of saints in prison. John Bunyan, the writer of Pilgrim’s Progress, spent twelve years in prison just for holding spiritual meetings in his home.
The church has been no stranger to persecution through its whole history. Look at a few other examples. The first two are from Austria where many believers had fled to escape persecution in other countries.
Persecution was so severe that many fled into Moravia, where, for a time, they had liberty, but the frontiers were closely watched to prevent any from getting away, and arrangements were made with the Venetian government, on the other side, to prevent the hunted men and women from escaping in that direction. All over Austria there was a great spread of the Gospel and numerous churches were founded, which, after long and heroic suffering, were scattered and crushed by persecution. In Tyrol and Görz a thousand persons were burnt, beheaded, or drowned.
Not only on continental Europe was there persecution. Though England had managed to form its own church, the same pattern of persecution prevailed. Susannah Wesley, mother of John, the famous preacher and founder of Methodism, and Charles, his song-writing brother, understood that suffering and persecution were part of the package that came with the Gospel.
The maid brought the baby to the new mother’s room for it to nurse, but when Susannah Wesley, only half-awake, nestled her child to her breast, she found it was dead. She composed herself as well as she could, and that day got it buried, her husband wrote.
Ten of her nineteen children died before they were two years old; five in the space of four years. And one of her daughters was deformed.
Many nights, mobs surrounded the Wesley parsonage, beating drums, firing guns in the air and pelting the house with stones. The local congregation refused to pay his (her husband was pastor) salary. He tried to farm his land to add to the family income, but his barns mysteriously caught fire and his venture failed. Members of his own congregation had him arrested and sent to debtor’s prison, leaving Susannah and the children with only thirty shillings. While she was waiting for her husband’s release, a vandal set fire to her garden and slashed the udders of the family’s cows. She had to scrounge for milk as well as bread.
"All my sufferings, by the admirable management of Omnipotent Goodness, have concurred to promote my spiritual and eternal good. Glory be to Thee, O Lord."
I think that the reason we believers in our day are not persecuted is that we are doing nothing to be persecuted for. We have hidden our lamps "under a bushel" lest we offend the darkness. Where there is no persecution the church of Christ usually doesn’t grow, or if it does, it is only skin-deep, like the seed planted on the rocky ground. "As soon as persecution or trouble comes, they quickly fall away" (Matt. 13:20-21).
History proves that the church does not fare well in prosperity. The primitive church in Jerusalem was stagnated after about ten years until a fierce persecution arose that drove the Gospel out to the Gentiles and to the entire surrounding region. During the first three centuries, the church was growing and expanding all across the world. It was multiplied in the crucible of persecution and afflictions at the hands of unbelievers and hostile civil governments. Then, Constantine practically eliminated the persecution of the church. Instead of opposing the believers, he supported them and took away the pilgrim’s cross. At that point, the quality of Christianity took a nosedive.
Let’s compare the church in Eastern Europe with the church in Western Europe. Before the collapse of Communism, the Christian communities in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and East Germany flourished, although there were no seminaries, no Christian conferences, very few Bibles, and no religious radio, television, or films.
By contrast, religious commitment in Western Europe languished, despite an abundance of religious freedoms there. Apathy was especially evident in countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and Greece, where the church was supported by public funds.
Recent history may be proof that the best way to kill or weaken the church is to remove all challenge to its existence.
Physical ailments and pain
Some of my Christian brothers preach that there is divine healing of all our physical illnesses in the atonement. However, that raises some serious questions. Why did the Lord not take away Paul’s ailment, though he asked three times? (II Cor. 12:7-9). Why did Paul not heal Trophimus before he left Miletus? (II Tim. 4:20). Why did Timothy need to take wine for his stomach and "frequent illnesses?" (I Tim. 5:23). Also, since death is normally a result of sickness, why does it happen to Christians? My errant brothers’ teaching is based on the worldly assumption that all suffering is bad.
Three conclusions issue from what we have seen. The first concerns miraculous healing. Christ and the apostles only healed miraculously when they were specifically prompted to do so; when, in other words, they knew that to do so was the Father’s will. That is why their attempts at healing succeeded. Still, miraculous healing for Christians was not universal then, so there is no warrant for maintaining that it should be now. J. I. Packer
God’s holy servants through the ages have had sicknesses. Martin Luther suffered from stomach ailments and kidney stones for most of his life. Bishop Asbury was a circuit-riding, Methodist preacher who lit gospel fires all across the American frontier, and who was no stranger to hardship and suffering.
Asbury suffered from one chronic ailment after another, so much so that one biographer calls him a "Job of old on horseback." Migraine headaches plagued him throughout his life, and chronic throat infections would become so severe that doctors feared he would strangle. He wrestled with malaria, asthma, pneumonia, rheumatism, high fevers, and other diseases, and in his mid-forties he plunged onward, convinced he could not live another year. But he lived to the age of seventy-one.
I would like to tell a story here about Bishop Asbury, but it seems to have nothing to do with suffering. Then again, maybe it has a lot to do with how he could suffer so much and still keep going. He had a reputation for always being thankful for things even when the situation was meager. He would often start his prayers saying " We thank you Lord for. . . " One day, he and his traveling companion had ridden all day in freezing rain to get to a little settlement on the frontier. They had had to detour around fallen trees, and landslides, and finally arrived at the settlement after dark, half frozen, hungry, and very tired. To make matters worse, no one had gathered for the meeting as had been arranged. So, Asbury and his companion set out in opposite directions to gather a few of the faithful. Just as the meeting was about to start, Asbury’s companion thought to himself, "I wonder what he is going to thank the Lord for this time," since there was seemingly nothing good about the whole day. As Asbury prayed, he finished with the words, "And Lord, we thank Thee that every day is not like this one."
Fanny Crosby was blind since six weeks old and saw her sickness as a gift from God. “O what a happy soul I am! Although I cannot see, I am resolved that in this world contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don’t! To weep and sigh because I’m blind, I cannot and I won’t.”
If we are going to live in the will of God, we must wean ourselves from this worldly escapism, this "sissy" Christianity which tries to flee every time the going gets tough. And we must stop rewriting our doctrines to make them palatable to the world, and to worldly-minded Christians.
Let me share a few more examples of God’s faithful servants who understood what few Western Christians today understand.
Adonirum Judson, the renowned missionary to Burma, endured untold hardships trying to reach the lost for Christ. For seven heartbreaking years he suffered hunger and privation. During this time he was thrown into Ava Prison, and for 17 months he was subjected to almost incredible mistreatment. As a result, for the rest of his life he carried the ugly marks made by the chains and iron shackles which had cruelly bound him.
Undaunted, upon his release he asked for permission to enter another province where he might resume preaching the Gospel. The godless ruler indignantly denied his request, saying, "My people are not fools enough to listen to anything a missionary might SAY, but I fear they might be impressed by your SCARS and turn to your religion.
When the late Bishop of Madras was visiting Travancore, there was introduced to him a little slave girl called "the Child Apostle." She had won this title by the zeal with which she talked of Christ to others. Her quiet, steady persistence in this had won several converts to Christ. But she had suffered persecution too brutal to relate. When she was introduced to the Bishop, her face, neck and arms were disfigured and scarred by stripes and blows. As he looked at her, the good man’s eyes filled, and he said, "My child, how could you bear this?"
She looked up at him in surprise and said, "Don’t you like to suffer for Christ, sir?
At the turn of the twentieth century, George and Mary Allen, a young couple from New Zealand had gone to Argentina as part of their call to reach the Inca (Quechua) Indians in Bolivia. One of the most difficult experiences and testing of their faith was in Buenos Aires. Their money had run out; all their food was gone. They didn’t have one piece of bread in the house. Their baby, Margarita was still nursing, but because the parents had nothing to eat for three days, Mary’s milk dried up and the baby had nothing either.
Later, undaunted and believing that God had called them to serve him in Bolivia, they went round to their neighbors and announced that they were leaving for that country, and so said their farewells. Though they had no money for the trip, they made all the preparations for going. Then, the money came in and they left as God had planned.
Fortunately, these people had read their Bibles and not some material from a prosperity seminar. Otherwise they would have given up and tried to find a way home to mom. Physical suffering and sacrifice are part of the cross that we are called to bear as Christ’s disciples. Satan has deceived us into believing that following Christ is all downstream. But the truth is, we must swim against the current of the world, and our progress will be in the face of strong opposition.
The Benefits of Suffering
Suffering here makes us want to go there
The Scriptures tell us that bodily suffering takes the love of the world out of our hearts. "Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God " (I Pet. 4:1-2). When we suffer in this world, it enables us to long for the other world and the fulfillment of God’s promises. When we are comfortable here, we have no desire to move on.
Adversity builds character
One of the purposes for our suffering is to make us stronger and more like Christ. It might be considered heretical to say that Christ wasn’t perfect before he suffered, several passages from the book of Hebrews say exactly that. If it weren’t in the Bible, I would abstain, but since it appears several times, I ask you to bear with me.
"In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering" (Heb. 2:10). If Jesus wasn’t perfect until he suffered, why do we think that we can be? The word perfect comes from the Greek word (teleo) from which we get telescope, telephone, telegram, etc. Have you ever bought and installed a telescoping shower-curtain rod? When you extend the rod and it touches both walls, it is teleo - meaning it doesn’t lack anything - it is complete and sufficient. Jesus, our Redeemer, wasn’t complete and sufficient until he had suffered. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him . . . (Heb. 5:8-9 See also Heb. 7:28).
God sends, or allows His children to suffer rejection, persecution, sickness, wounds, and even death to perfect and purify us and his church. You can’t get the dross (impurities) out of silver or gold without a lot of heat, and you can’t get the impurities out of Christians without a lot of adversity. We learn obedience and self-denial through suffering.
It is indeed a monstrous thing obstinately to refuse to submit ourselves to Him: and yet experience demonstrates, that so long as he deals gently with us, we are always breaking forth into insolence. . . .
He humbles some by poverty, some by shame, some by diseases, some by domestic distresses, some by hard and painful labours; and thus, according to the diversity of vices to which we are prone, he applies to each an appropriate remedy.
The goal of bearing the cross is to produce patience and faith, and thereby aid us in denying the self. Self-denial can never be accomplished by natural self-control. Man needs to be afflicted to push him on to greater efforts of self-denial. Only then will man bring his affections and thoughts under the will of God. John Calvin
We learn eternal values as a result of suffering. When we suffer enough here on earth, we won’t be tempted to want to stay in this world indefinitely. Suffering helps us to get our values straight. When we see our sand castle crumbling around us, we are less prone to want to spend our lives building more. We will look for something more permanent - a city that has foundations; eternal in the heavens (Heb. 11:10).
Pruning makes us produce more fruit
Jesus said that we needed to be pruned (trimmed) in order to increase our fruit production. Trimming is a horticultural term having to do with the pruning of either deadwood from a vine, to prevent the buildup of insects or disease, or live wood, extraneous to fruit bearing. Cutting needless growth from a vine will make it more productive, directing the sap away from the formation of suckers-limbs, to produce bigger and better fruit.
I can think of several people around me who have gone through trying times in the last few years, and who have grown so much closer to the Lord as a result. One is my brother-in-law who was without work for about a year and a half. He became interested in spiritual things, attended church regularly, and was more humble, and more willing to learn and take orders from God. Unfortunately, he found a good job and has gone back to the old ways of being apathetic. Maybe I should pray for him to get fired so he can produce more fruit.
Suffering produces spiritual growth
"Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us" (Rom. 5:3-4). Sufferings temper us and make us firm in faith, and that builds Christian character, and that leads to greater hope. Hope based on truth has never disappointed anyone.
Hence also in harsh and difficult conditions, regarded as adverse and evil, a great comfort comes to us: we share Christ’s sufferings in order that as he has passed from a labyrinth of all evils into heavenly glory, we may in like manner be led through various tribulations to the same glory.
How much can it do to soften all the bitterness of the Cross, that the more we are afflicted with adversities, the more surely our fellowship with Christ is confirmed!
Only when God blesses our sufferings can such good come from them. Suffering for suffering’s sake is not noble. And when one is afflicted, the natural response is to become hardened and embittered and even blame God. But when God blesses suffering by His inner power then true patience and Christ-likeness is produced. John Calvin
Suffering now produces greater glory later
The apostle Paul had a strange belief about suffering: he thought that beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks and stonings were good things. In II Corinthians 11:23-27, while trying to undermine the credibility of some false teachers, he reluctantly makes a long list of some difficult experiences he went through for preaching the Gospel:
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. But he says that these sufferings are of great benefit to him. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all. (II Cor. 4:17). He certainly had a backward, up-side-down way of looking at things.
In Philippians 1:29, he wrote to the Christians in Philippi and told them how fortunate they were to be able to suffer for Christ: "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him. . ."
Peter was wearing the sameup-side-down glasses when he wrote I Peter 4:13, "But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." The fact is that when his glory is revealed, we will also be glorified. The glory comes after the suffering and is proportionate to it.
When Jesus gave an itinerant theology class to two despondent students on the way to Emmaus, he started off by saying, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken? Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? (Luke 24:25-26). First the suffering, then the glory! Our problem is that we want to get the glory without the trials, but "no can do!" Jesus was saying to those despondent disciples, "Hey! Think up-side-down. This is what the prophets have said all along."
A beekeeper told me the story of the hive - how, when the little bee is in the first stage, it is put into a hexagonal cell, with honey enough stored there for its use until it reaches maturity. The honey is sealed in the capsule of wax. When the tiny bee has fed itself on the honey and exhausted the supply, the time comes for it to emerge into the opening. But, oh, the struggle - the wrestling and the straining to get through the wax! What agony for that fragile little creature, but how necessary to its full development! In the struggles of that exit, the bee rubs off the membrane that hid its wings and kept them useless, and . . . on the other side . . .it is able to fly. Once a moth got into the hive and fed on the wax capsules and the bees got out without any strain or struggle. But they were unable to fly, and were stung to death by the other bees.
Our sufferings glorify God
At the very end of his earthly stay, Jesus was giving final instructions to some of his closest disciples. He told Peter to "feed his sheep." Then, he also told him something about how he would suffer and die. "I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and some one else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God (John 21:18-19).
So Peter’s suffering and death were instruments which brought glory to God (legend says he was crucified up-side-down because he felt he was unworthy to be crucified like the Lord). Peter must have taken the lesson to heart, because later (before his death, of course), he wrote the following to the dispersed believers: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (I Pet.1:6-7). Our sufferings prove that our faith is genuine and will result in glory for us when Jesus is revealed before all creation.
How can God get glory from our sufferings? Let’s look at the life of Job. Job was a righteous man, perhaps the most trusting in all the earth. One day God asked Satan what he thought of Job. "What do you think of Job, Satan? You see that he is not like you." Satan reacts by saying, "Right! Sure! He’s just a sissy because you protect him all the time and he’s got it so good. It’s easy for him to be loyal." "OK," God says; “Test him and see!" So, Satan attacks, and after Job proves faithful, he gets permission from God to go deeper. Finally, he wrings him out as hard as he can, and though Job is far from happy about the experience, he proves faithful. God is glorified before Satan and all the angels because Job stood firm and did not deny nor curse God in all his afflictions.
Can God get glory from us? Of course he can! When we walk uprightly, he may say, have you noticed my servant X lately? Satan may respond, "Oh yeah! Let’s see what he’s made of. Let’s make him suffer and see if he squeals and turns tail and runs."
Will we pass the test? When put to the rack, will we cry "uncle" on the first notch?; "God, why are you doing this to me?" We may even become bitter toward God (like cursing him) and turn our backs on him. If so, will the Father and the Lord Jesus get glory from our testing? Does my experience with suffering, persecution, and hard times make me a better person or a bitter person? Jesus is looking for disciples - people who know how to suffer and not turn bitter.
