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Have you ever felt alone, hurting in the dark? I know I have. It can be overwhelming to be lost in the feeling that what we are going through is for nothing and nothing good will come out of it. From an atheist's perspective, suffering is by mere chance or “bad luck.” Even non-Christians know that in trying times, the thing to do is to wrestle with God asking all of your “why?” questions. The truth is: there is no meaning for suffering outside of God. Some of you may be thrown off by this statement, but follow me for a second.
I challenge you to think hard at this question: Can God use our suffering for good? Today, I’m going to share with you seven instances in scripture where God gives us insight on how He uses suffering for the good of His children. 1.) Suffering produces hope. 2.) Jesus himself suffered greatly. 3.) When we mourn, we have a Comforter. 4.) The Advocate is with us. 5.) We have eternal hope. 6.) Suffering can bring us deeper into community. 7.) Scripture tells us that God will work through our circumstances for our good. If you're still stunned by my previous statement, don’t worry. We are getting there.
There is no meaning for suffering outside of God. “Does that mean God is the one who does terrible things to people?” Quite the contrary. You see, all throughout scripture, the Lord presents Himself as many things, two of them being the Advocate and the Comforter. When the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy, crawling in a hole and giving up is not an option, because we can have hope in Jesus. We can trust that whatever we are going through, He has already been there when He was on the earth.
In this episode, I really just want to give another perspective. The perspective of a loving Father who is meeting us where we are and will never leave us despite the mess we may find ourselves in. I truly believe that through our suffering, we can be made to look more like Jesus. We can rejoice in knowing that through our struggles, we are becoming a more hopeful people.
3 key takeaways from this episode:
How Jesus’ suffering is an example
When Jesus was on the earth, as he was dying, He left us an example to follow in His footsteps. He was literally crucified on a cross. This is an opportunity for us to grow closer to Jesus. When we have trials and are suffering in this fallen world, we have a perfect model to follow. We can be in His likeness.
Having hope in spite of hurt
Hope can come in a multitude of ways. Some of us envision heaven when we think of having eternal hope. Some people muster up enough strength to make it through another day because of the hope that they have in Jesus. No matter what, even if you're hurting or deeply suffering, we can trust that no matter the trial, Jesus is using it for good.
How community can be strengthened through struggle
When we are going through struggles, the worst thing we can do is isolate ourselves. The law of Christ is literally to bear one another’s burdens. We can be comforted by our community and church when we are going through struggles, and you know what? Maybe your struggle is giving hope to someone else to keep going. We need one another to lean on during difficult times, so allow your community to strengthen your relationship with each other and with Jesus.
