Here, the Christian’s suffering will ultimately result in a hope that won’t put us to shame. “I can rejoice in my suffering, knowing God is using it to produce in me what I could not produce in myself.” More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5). Paul says, “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. No one comes through suffering unchanged. Suffering is a catalyst that forces us to move in one direction or another. But suffering was producing something unshakeable. I found an inexplicable peace and hope that I had not experienced before - my easy trouble-free life had not yielded anything but an enjoyment of the present. It was then that my faith radically changed. I needed peace and I couldn’t find it anywhere besides Christ. I cried out asking God to help me to trust him, to reconnect, and to find hope in what seemed like impenetrable darkness. I realized, however, like Peter, that there was nowhere to go, because only Jesus had the words of life (John 6:68). When things kept getting worse, I angrily stopped talking to God, wondering if he was even listening. What Suffering Produced in MeĮach time something else went wrong, I begged God to fix it, to take away the pain, to restore things to the way they were. Then a marriage crisis almost undid me, and just as I started healing, our infant son died unexpectedly. After I became a Christian as a teenager, I felt sure that God had promised me an easy life and all I had to do was live it.įor years I felt God fulfilled his part, but my confidence eroded after my first miscarriage. I too have had unwritten, unilateral contracts with God where I tried to live a righteous life and in return expected God to bless me by fixing all my problems - especially if I prayed and read the Bible. “My hope is not that my situation will turn out a certain way, but that God will always do what’s best for me.” She was tired of doing the right thing because it hadn’t gotten her anywhere. She asked angrily, “Is this how a good God treats his children?” and went on to list all that God had not done for her, despite her faithfulness. She had prayed and asked him to change her situation, but things continued to get worse. I still remember our last conversation about God, as she told me that he had not come through for her. As we experience hardship, every test of the living God finds us transformed into pure gold for his glory.Several years ago, a close friend walked away from faith. It’s glorious to know that a Christian’s suffering in this life isn’t a denial of who Christ is but an affirmation. Likewise, as our brokenness is exposed, Jesus is seen. Until the earthen vessel is broken, the treasure within it can’t be seen. 15:13)Īs disciples of Jesus, we must use hard times to harness who we really are in Christ. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hope is the joyful expectation of what the Lord has promised. Character Unleashes HopeĬharacter that’s sanctified by the gospel becomes progressively more stable and is therefore able to focus more effectively on the things of the Lord. This is a picture of the way God brings out our character through suffering. When the goldsmith sees his reflection, he knows the precious metal is now ready to be molded into what he desires. There are no impurities left to obscure his reflection. The smelter knows the gold is ready to come off the heat when he sees his face in the melted metal.
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