Life Notes
But it Hurts!
By Tim Russ
(Job 3:25 NIV) What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.
There is no doubt that pain is associated with suffering. Pain is also associated with growth. The reality is that pain is associated with life. Life is pain. We either get used to it and tolerate it or we embrace it and use it. Either way one thing is for certain. We cannot escape it.
When having your tree pruned it is said that it’s best to hire your worst enemy. The reasoning behind this is that your enemy will hate you so much that he will chop it to bits and nearly kill it. In fact, that is the best thing that you can do for a tree when pruning it. By chopping its branches off you reduce the amount of mass that has to be sustained. The extra food is poured into smaller twig-like branches and soon massive growth occurs.
In the same way one of the best things that can happen in our life is to have the enemy of our soul, Satan, come against us and nearly destroy us. We may mourn for the loss of ministry that is occurring but in reality ministries take up our energy. Once we are removed from those ministries our energy can be poured into the smaller things that minister and within a short period of time a massive growth takes place in our lives.
(Philippians 1:27-30 NIV) Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel {28} without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God. {29} For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, {30} since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
Jesus said that we should not be surprised if the world hates us because it hated him first. It still hates us today. Yet, as we see in Philippians God has ‘granted’ us the privilege of suffering for him. He allows us to be attacked. He allows the world to be embroiled and embittered by Satan until their anger pot boils over and spills out on us.
(Romans 5:3-4 NIV) Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; {4} perseverance, character; and character, hope.
What should be our response to suffering? Rejoicing. All growth has a process that it goes through. With Christians we suffer, then we persevere. That perseverance takes some strong commitment and sticktoitiveness and anyone who sticks it out develops character. Those Christians who have a strong character will inevitably have a strong hope.
(Hebrews 4:14-16)
Yet while we suffer it is also clear that we need to be drawing closer to God. It is through his strength and supply that we will find the nourishment to grow. Don’t hesitate. Flee into his presence and boldly cry out to your Father. He has provided us an older brother who has been there and understands exactly what we’re going through. That big brother has already interceded on our behalf and the help is ready and waiting for us to walk in and pick it up.
Copyright © 2008 Tim Russ. All rights reserved.