how does god use suffering for good

Suffering conforms us to Christ. Drawing me into intimacy and showing me how easily grieved He is. Perhaps my irritation is an invitation from the Lord to go deeper with him. I will provide for you and your children." I want to be transformed to image and likeness of God., I thank God for your articles, l am sincerely blessed. God Uses Your Suffering for Your GoodAnd Others' - RELEVANT Just as we heat a crooked rod to straighten it, God holds us over the fire of suffering to make us more upright. In her book When God Weeps, Joni Eareckson Tada writes, Before my paralysis, my hands reached for a lot of wrong things, and my feet took me into some bad places. He assured the crowd (and us) that we are living on borrowed time; we all need to repent. Notice that only one of these worldviews says that life is good in an ultimate sense. Privacy Policy. Why Does God Allow Suffering? 5 Good Reasons He Allows Pain In Our When Nanci and I sawDavidin Florence, it took our breath away. Everything that is happening to me is to make me more Christlike. The crowd that had gathered to listen to Jesus beginning in Luke 11 had no such understanding of suffering. Just as fire cleanses that which is pure and valuable, so too are we purified by times of suffering. Is My Suffering a Correction for Sin? | Desiring God Being aware that God is using everything to make me more Christlike does make me less anxious. Unsubscribe at anytime. She became his nurse and cared for him tirelessly, living in her mother-in-laws home, even after she spread vicious lies about her daughter-in-law. Pursuing Intimacy With God is committed to helping you with the most important thing in your life your intimacy with God , your fellowship with Him, and your partnership with God in His Kingdom work & mission. But in Gods economy, being blessed takes on new meaning. Yet while we can maybe see how suffering well gives glory to God, we find it hard to imagine how suffering can possibly be for our good. Over [], A Horse, His Boy, and Providence: A Reflection on a Forgotten Doctrine from The Chronicles of Narnia, Providence Providence is that unseen work of God by which He upholds, governs and orchestrates all things. There are essentially four main responses to suffering that constitute a vision of the good life. You can live like Buddha the spiritual guru who ignored suffering, suppressed desire, and meditated under a tree. If you would like to write a letter to the editor, you can do so here. Panthiests attribute the cause of suffering to the body. But when they are that young, they don't understand that these needles are meant to help them, not hurt them. Only in cultivating discipline, endurance, and patience do we find satisfaction and reward. Why Does God Allow Suffering and Evil? - Love Worth Finding Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. Our physical ailments teach us to depend on God. He doesnt. He is patient because He longs for us to respond to His merciful invitation to receive salvation through His Son. When we suddenly bear an affliction, our pride, impatience, and unbelief will often surface. People who love and care for me. There are no ways of life on offer that don't include suffering. Chelsea was adopted as a newborn from Bucharest, Romania, grew up in North Carolina, and then graduated from Liberty University. Helpful Not Helpful Be sober-minded; be watchful. The theist is the only one that says that this life is ultimately good and not just good, but very good. May God almighty increase you in wisdom knowledge and understanding. But his definition of good is different than mine. learn more . Even a superficial look at history reveals that no social advance rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. You see, for many years I thought God was cruel and mean. And very often the road to being good involves not feeling good. To actively seek out and ask God what he is trying to show us. Your sufferings are actually doing something. It may seem unimaginable, yet even as we ask God for deliverance, suffering as a Christian serves several purposes for our ultimate good. In other words, the reason we suffer is either because the universe is bad, blind or broken. And as I draw closer, and Im embraced by my Lord, I become more like his Son. Yesterday I visited on the subject Gods calling for your life was very blessing and useful to me. God allows suffering in the lives of His children. Amen. I have now blogged for 7,195 consecutive days. And He wants to fill you with the spiritual fruits and riches that He wants for you. When God looked on the world He created, He saw that it was all very good. Purpose of Suffering For Christians enduring this fallen world, suffering has two purposes: God's glory and our good. For everything that happens to us can make us more like Christ. The reason Hugh Hefner smoked the tree is because he believed that the universe was blind, and in the end he would rot. We have to learn to pray our pain, sing our sorrows and lean in to the comfort of community. !, What an awesome thing that your ministry is sharing with the world. For example, I've taken each of my girls to get their two-year vaccinations. Athiests to natural processes. We all know what it is to feel pain and loss. Learn how your comment data is processed. Remember that our situation is temporary compared to eternity. Just found your site as I was looking for prayers for our church P&W team. God refines us in our suffering and graciously explains why: "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. Many of us are asking such questions right now in light of coronavirus and other troubling world events. I typed in the search because this is what God has been doing in my life. What are we to make of Jesus relationship to truth and the laws of logic? First, suffering helps to purify God's children. When nothing seems to be going well. In combining these two answers, you can see that: Here is what I want you to see. "Jesus answered, 'Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?'" My good would include healing and dying together in our sleep when we are in our nineties. This verse would be incredibly difficult to bear if that is all Scripture said about the subject. Romans and 1 Peter 4:19 make clear that suffering is a grace from God. Instead, he disciplines his children-which causes pain-yet it's for our good. Because it is all too easy to fall into the worlds liturgies of lament. Now, if marble had feelings, it wouldnt like the chiseling process. Therefore, God has his people suffer so they will shut the mouths of those who cast aspersions on them and their God. David W. Jones recommends five books for your summer reading list. He uses suffering to show me His character; that He is faithful, good, kind and loving. When God begins to remove our worldly comforts, it is then that we run to him and make peace with him. If you feel led by God to support us, we would greatly appreciate any gifts to our general fund. More special, precious, important, and valuable to God than anything else He has created. It silenced me. Though now, for a little while, Peter says, If necessary we are suffering trials of various kinds so that the tested, genuineness of our faith may result in praise, and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7, paraphrase). After my paralysis, tempting choices were scaled down considerably. The master worked daily to transform it into something surpassingly beautiful. Just as fire cleanses that which is pure and valuable, so too are we purified by times of suffering. Suffering isnt foreign to any of us, though, is it? Many believers can testify that in suffering they have had the sweetest experiences of joy and the closest sense of Gods nearness. Since God is the source of all goodness, his glory is the wellspring of all joy. Youth Workers, Equip Your Students to Integrate Faith and Work. In particular in the areas of evangelism and justice. If cancer or paralysis or a car accident prompts us to draw on Gods strength to become more conformed to Christ, then regardless of the human, demonic, or natural forces involved, God will be glorified in it. If God is a God of love, they said, then why would he let something like this happen, and especially to committed Christians?But they chose to trust God despite their questions. My good would include healing and dying together in our sleep when we are in our nineties. Truth and Love: Why the Church (and our Nation) Need Both. When we have that peace that transcends understanding in situations the world says should crush us, it bears witness to the eternal hope we have in our sovereign, faithful God. Look instead for what God can do (The Message). But in what narrative are we living? And passionate about the things He is passionate about. Each worldview also has a different account for the end of suffering which we could summarize in three Rs: Reabsorption, rot or resurrection. Through the suffering of Christ, God blesses his people with everlasting life. My good would never include cancer and young widowhood. Jono is now finishing an M.A. The following are some Biblical reasons why God allowed what we would deem as "bad" situations to be turned into "good" purposes in Joseph's life: To enable him to overcome a prideful attitude and learn humility (See Proverbs 15:33 .) Which is for you to be like Jesus. My struggles, in Christ, are not Gods condemnation (Romans 8:1). For emphasis, God repeats this reason. God could create scientists, mathematicians, athletes, and musicians. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. My friends actions were an avenue for God to reveal a layer of sin in my life that I otherwise would have glossed over. And even though I was a born-again Christian, I was missing the entire point! Lewis wrote. Help me to see seasons of suffering as opportunities to draw near to You and point others to the hope of glory through Jesus Christ. GOD bless you all !!!! We ask God to remove the chisel because it hurts, but its a means of transformation:And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lords glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is for discipline that you have to endure. Whatever kind of suffering you are experiencing, take heart knowing your Savior has overcome the world. For example, He does work all things for my eternal good and His eternal glory. Everything in my life can direct me to Christ. Because we fail to see the person God intends to form through our adversity, we too may resent the chiseling. It might have ended there, but when I came across these words from A.W. Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the author of over sixtybooks and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. Indiana Jones: Fading Magic in a Secular Age, How Evangelicals Lose Will Make All the Difference, How to Dismiss an Employee in a Church or Ministry, 5 Reasons Your Church Service Should Include Pastoral Prayer, Marriage Is Better for Your Adult Kids Than You May Think, Heresy at the Heart of Derek Webbs Boys Will Be Girls, Why a Post-Christian World Needs Pastor-Theologians, The Lies That Serve Us: Christians and Critical Race Theory. When Hardship Hits: 7 Ways God Uses Suffering to Make us Like Jesus How God uses suffering in our lives - Teaching Humble Hearts Have they never even been to a dentist? Suffering also deepens our intimacy with God. The loss of a job. Thankyou so much for creating this website where I can learn and grow in this wonderful new truth, new life, that has been placed before me! All things can, and will, be used by God to accomplish his good purposes for the everlasting joy and glory of his people. Find out in Bob Lepine's new book, Go Back to All Hardship and Suffering Resources. Now He wants to be your Treasure. Many people will be blessed by your program. Second, suffering brings us closer to God. God doesn't use suffering to teach me a lesson on how to be a better person. Suffering and ease. I was trying so hard to please Him, trying with all of my might to be absolutely perfect I was missing the entire point, the entire freedom and beauty that Christ led us to by His death and resurrection. My good would never include cancer and young widowhood. God speaks of bringing judgment on his children for participating in the Lords Supper in an unworthy manner (see 1 Corinthians 11:27-32). And then in a poignant moment, she stopped, looked at me, and said, Honey, I have been thinking about this. After spending a number of years bed-bound, God graciously intervened in 2020, using UNC Hospital to restore Jonos health. Suffering Is a Fundamental Rhythm of the Good Life, How does suffering fit into our understanding of the good life? Your email address will not be published. We are both working for a soft and humble heart., How God Uses Suffering & Turns It Into Good Part 2, Africa Missions Mission Trips to Africa, Asia & Central America Missions Mission Trips, Brazil Missions Ministry Sharing Christ & Making Disciples, Encouraging Bible Verses & Gods Promises, Ministerio de Misses Kevin e Nancy Bart, Missions Ministry Share the Gospel & Make Disciples, Missions Ministry Schedule Bart Missions, Notcias e Fotos do Ministrio de Misses, Os Requerimentos Para a Salvao Verdadeira, Our Latest Posts & Articles & Bible Studies, Prayer In The Bible & Why You Should Pray, Pursuing Intimacy With God Bible Studies Portugus, Pursuing Intimacy With God Bible Studies Book, Spiritual Gifts : Every Christian Has Gifts, Worship In The Bible True Worship Of God. God uses suffering to expose the sin that clings so closely to our hearts. The Lord knows that we have no greater good than to gaze firmly upon him and not the things of the world. We see God enact consequences upon Israel for their disobedienceconsequences we would call "suffering" ( Deuteronomy 28; 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Chronicles 9:1 ). Suffering: For God's Glory and Your Good - The Gospel Coalition Lets Talk About Sex: Can Americas Hyper-Sexualized Culture Grow a Godly Conscience?

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