In chapter 8 of “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God,” the author, Dustin Shramek, paints us a vivid picture of the realness and depth of our pain and suffering in our lives. He tells us that pain and suffering are part of the course of life and inevitable. Moreover, he advises us that we should not minimize our pain and suffering, nor should we consider it hopeless while we are enduring through the experience. The author instead, points us to God’s holiness as the reason our pain and suffering should not and cannot consume us in the long run.
Today I want to expound the “how” of getting through our pain and suffering. Secondly, I want to illustrate why the “how” of getting through our pain and suffering is actually the building blocks of future hope for ourselves and others who suffer around us.
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11 ESV
How do we get through pain and suffering and why they solidify hope in our lives?
There are two ways from this passage that the Apostle Paul explains as a method of getting through pain and suffering: 1) reliance on God; 2) pray and have people pray for you.
1. Reliance on God
The Apostle Paul and his companions faced many challenges in their time of missionary work. He even tells the church in Corinth that they “despaired life.” The Apostle and his companions felt that death was a better option than the suffering and pain they were going through.
When a person despairs life, they pretty much give up on trying to change things or do things in their own lives that preserves their lives. Our pain and suffering usually points us to a similar type of despair– that nothing we can do will change the outcome or the intensity of pain and suffering that is being experienced. I will not say that the point of pain and suffering is for us to experience despair. But I will say that our abilities, skills, and experience, or lack thereof, become highlighted through the experience.
It is when we feel least adequate and most unable to help ourselves, we need to recognize that God is greater than us. If truly God sent his son, Jesus, to save us when we could not save ourselves, by dying on the cross and being resurrected. That is to say that Jesus carried the intense pain and suffering of being punished for sins that he did not commit and then was resurrected from the dead despite the punishment, then we can be assured that God is greater than our pain and suffering.
Hope comes from knowing that our savior is greater than the pain and suffering we are experiencing. After all, death could not hold him. He conquered the pain and suffering of our sins. When we trust that and rely on who God is to us, our loving father, then our pain and suffering, as real and as difficult as they are, they are not ours to vindicate or triumph over. They are merely signals by which we should intensify our reliance on God.
Let’s place our trust in God when we are in the midst of our pain and suffering. Trusting in God is more than a mindset, it’s an action. What actions are you taking to to place your trust in God in your pain and suffering?
2. Pray and have People Pray for You
God will only put things on a person’s heart if that person is seeking for God and asking God to place things on their hearts. That is prayer!
You better believe the Apostle Paul prayed intensely while in the midst of his pain and suffering. It’s because he prayed that he was most able to reflect on the truth of who Jesus is in the midst of his pain and suffering. Undoubtedly he wrestled and questioned God in his prayers. Hope rose from the Apostle Paul because God placed it in Paul’s heart.
Now, the Apostle Paul asks an entire church to pray for him in his pain and suffering. Do you think God ignored those prayers or do you think God provided comfort, whether physical, mental, or emotional? Of course God provided comfort! In fact, in verses 3 and 4 of this chapter, the Apostle Paul says, “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.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESV)
God comforts those who are in affliction. This is the reason for our hope in God. When we are praying and when people are praying for us, we receive God’s comforting. Not only do we receive God’s comforting, that comforting becomes a blessing for us, who are in the midst of pain and suffering, and for those who witnessed it and/or are facing similar pain and suffering in their own lives.
Imagine if in our pain and suffering we found ourselves praying and asking people to pray for us, what else in the world can change through those prayers?
Conclusion: So, how will you place your trust in God and pray in your pain and suffering? Who will you ask to pray for you in your pain and suffering?
Let’s pray. Father, this pain and suffering that never seems to end, help us. Give us comfort. We need comfort because there is nothing we can do. Only you have the ability to get us up and out of this pain, from this suffering. We pray that the same victory over death you gave us when we became your children will be granted to us now. Thank you for blessing us in this. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
You can find the chapter referred to in this article here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/suffering-and-the-sovereignty-of-god
No responses yet