A word of introduction: No religion has a complete and definitive solution or raison d'etre for suffering and adversity; God never explains Himself to Job, but just reveals Himself. (Without adversity, there wouldn't be any faith or character, either.) Buddhists claim to have an answer that we are all an island and deserve what we get from "karma" and must work off via the noble eightfold path. They say we should use our own bootstraps and work off our own "karma;" we aren't each other's keeper. (Buddhists believe in the eightfold path of enlightenment which is the middle way between the extremes of asceticism and sensuality.) The logical conclusion is that suffering is our own "karma" (we deserve it) because everyone is an island. However, we are our brother's keeper and we are members one of another.
Charlie Riggs of the Billy Graham team tells the anecdote of a master sculptor chipping away at a piece of marble. A passer-by asks what he is making: "A horse!" "Well, how can you get a horse out of that?" The sculptor says, "I just chip away everything that doesn't look like a horse." It is the same with us. God is pruning us to see His own image or icon (the imago Dei) in us. We are a work in progress. You've probably seen the acrostic PBPGIFWMY which means, "Please be patient, God isn't finished with me yet." Yes, sufferings, trials, temptations, afflictions, and discipline or chastisement, and adversity inevitably come to all believers (according to Riggs). Remember, Christ didn't even exempt Himself from them. He doesn't expect any more out of us than what He endured.
Isa. 48:10 says, "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. Did you know that God's Word is refined seven times like silver? Every time it is refined more dross or impurities are removed. When the laborer sees himself in the silver he is done; so when God sees Jesus in us. If the heat is too hot or it is in the furnace too long the silver will be ruined. We are like clay in God's hands, He is the potter. The same sun melts the butter and hardens the clay. It is only when we go through affliction do we find out what we are made of. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." "When you pass through the waters I will be with you...when you walk through fire, you will not be burned" (Psa. 34:19; Isa. 43:2).
Lee Strobel quotes Corrie ten Boom: "No matter how deep our darkness, He is deeper still." Suffering is an argument against God, but it is a cheap, inadequate explanation and actually proves God more than disproves Him. Case in point: Objective evaluation of rightness and wrongness is an appeal to a higher authority, i.e. God. Strobel also says that suffering is just as likely to sow agnosticism as faith, everyone acts or reacts differently. It is the highest honor to suffer for Christ; in fact, He left us an example that we should follow in His steps. Remember, if you don't suffer to succeed, it is because others have; if you do suffer to succeed, it is so that others won't.
The BIG question since the days of Job has been, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Actually, there are no good people if you think about it; also, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" Scripture says that even Jesus learned obedience through suffering--He didn't exempt Himself. Suffering is a privilege as Paul wrote, "For it has been granted unto you on behalf of Christ...to suffer for Him." Suffering is a calling: "I want to know Christ...and the fellowship of His sufferings." Paul was proud that he bore the markings of suffering for Christ.
Finally, God comforts us in our affliction so that we can be a blessing to others in the same predicament (2 Cor. 1:3-4). HE IS THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. Remember, we are members one of another, and if on member suffers, all do. Jesus learned obedience by what he suffered. I will close with a famous quote by C. S. Lewis: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains...It is God's megaphone in a deaf world." Soli Deo Gloria!
Charlie Riggs of the Billy Graham team tells the anecdote of a master sculptor chipping away at a piece of marble. A passer-by asks what he is making: "A horse!" "Well, how can you get a horse out of that?" The sculptor says, "I just chip away everything that doesn't look like a horse." It is the same with us. God is pruning us to see His own image or icon (the imago Dei) in us. We are a work in progress. You've probably seen the acrostic PBPGIFWMY which means, "Please be patient, God isn't finished with me yet." Yes, sufferings, trials, temptations, afflictions, and discipline or chastisement, and adversity inevitably come to all believers (according to Riggs). Remember, Christ didn't even exempt Himself from them. He doesn't expect any more out of us than what He endured.
Isa. 48:10 says, "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. Did you know that God's Word is refined seven times like silver? Every time it is refined more dross or impurities are removed. When the laborer sees himself in the silver he is done; so when God sees Jesus in us. If the heat is too hot or it is in the furnace too long the silver will be ruined. We are like clay in God's hands, He is the potter. The same sun melts the butter and hardens the clay. It is only when we go through affliction do we find out what we are made of. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." "When you pass through the waters I will be with you...when you walk through fire, you will not be burned" (Psa. 34:19; Isa. 43:2).
Lee Strobel quotes Corrie ten Boom: "No matter how deep our darkness, He is deeper still." Suffering is an argument against God, but it is a cheap, inadequate explanation and actually proves God more than disproves Him. Case in point: Objective evaluation of rightness and wrongness is an appeal to a higher authority, i.e. God. Strobel also says that suffering is just as likely to sow agnosticism as faith, everyone acts or reacts differently. It is the highest honor to suffer for Christ; in fact, He left us an example that we should follow in His steps. Remember, if you don't suffer to succeed, it is because others have; if you do suffer to succeed, it is so that others won't.
The BIG question since the days of Job has been, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Actually, there are no good people if you think about it; also, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" Scripture says that even Jesus learned obedience through suffering--He didn't exempt Himself. Suffering is a privilege as Paul wrote, "For it has been granted unto you on behalf of Christ...to suffer for Him." Suffering is a calling: "I want to know Christ...and the fellowship of His sufferings." Paul was proud that he bore the markings of suffering for Christ.
Finally, God comforts us in our affliction so that we can be a blessing to others in the same predicament (2 Cor. 1:3-4). HE IS THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT. Remember, we are members one of another, and if on member suffers, all do. Jesus learned obedience by what he suffered. I will close with a famous quote by C. S. Lewis: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains...It is God's megaphone in a deaf world." Soli Deo Gloria!