Suffering

The subject of suffering (various types) has been on my heart for quite some time--from the passing of my mom last summer to the physical suffering of my dad right after Christmas to the personal struggles that just come from living life.

Psalm 42 has particularly spoken to me concerning this reality of life--specifically the mental and emotional suffering we all endure from time to time.

I encourage you to spend some time meditating on this Psalm. It sheds much light on the "Christians should not suffer" teaching that is so prevalent in the wealth, health, and prosperity movement of our day.

Hebrews 5:8-9 says "though He was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him."

Jesus, the son of God, suffered not only for us on the cross, but he suffered to show us how to suffer within the sovereign providence of God as he conforms us to the image of his Son.

As Blackaby says, some things can only be learned through suffering.

If suffering were not a part of the normative Christian experience, why did Paul say in Philippians 3:10 "that I may know Him and power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death"?

In suffering, for whatever reason, we are able to identify with Jesus more so than in times of prosperity and all things going well.

In a series of blog posts, Mark Driscoll will be sharing what God has been teaching him from his studies over the past months.

Here is the link for his posts: http://blog.marshillchurch.org//author/mdriscoll/

I hope these will be of good instruction to you and for you.

God bless (which does not mean no suffering).

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