November 28
November 28
Your Lord owns you and everything in your life, even your suffering.
Perhaps you have wondered, as many have, why a good, loving, patient, kind, and gracious God would allow his children to suffer. He surely has the divine power and authority to protect us from hardship and to make our lives comfortable. There is never a moment when his care for us fails. There is never a moment when we slip beyond his gaze. There is never a moment when he turns his back on us. There is no hardship beyond his ability to defeat. There is never a time when his love and grace for us wane. He is always present, always faithful, and always good. Yet, every one of his children suffers somehow and in some way. If you are not suffering now, you will someday; and, if you are not suffering now, there is a good chance you’re near someone who is. Why is suffering the universal experience of the children of God?
In the beginning of 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul gives us one reason why God leads his children through suffering. This is not Scripture’s only answer to the question of suffering, but it is an important one:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. (2 Cor. 1:3–7)
Paul gives a surprising answer to the question of suffering. He says that we suffer precisely because God is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Does this confuse you? The Father leads us to share in the sufferings of Jesus, who, like us, had to deal with the harsh realities of life in this fallen world. This is how we share in God’s comfort. Why is it important for us to share in God’s comfort? We are put in the position of needing God’s comfort so that we may then be able to comfort those around us who are facing some kind of affliction, suffering, or hardship.
Here’s the plan. God makes his invisible comfort visible by sending people who have received his comfort and can give that same comfort to other sufferers. God has a redemptive purpose for your suffering. He leads you into what you never would have planned for yourself so that you may be prepared to be part of his gracious plan in the lives of others. It is true that even your suffering belongs to God. Although unexpected and hard, your suffering has meaning and purpose in the hands of the Lord.