THE CHRISTIANS RESPONSE TO SUFFERING
Just as the suffering servant Job, we too may view our suffering as strategies of heaven, to not only bring the sufferer into a fuller view of God, but also to show God's created beings, the glory of His sovereign directions.
So often we want God to hear us by the intensity of our pleads and longings, but He acts in His sovereign and gracious care and He decides the timing of His interventions.
We must remember, that the darkest, deepest crevice in the valley of painful experience, there is Jesus standing with us. For He too wondered, as we may have, "My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me." We can take comfort in knowing that Jesus has taken our questions and made them His own.
We want deliverance, God may want refinement.
We may want relief from our anxiety, God may want a deeper communion with Him.
The essence of our faith, should not, does not depend upon a supernatural deliverance from suffering, but a supernatural use for it.
God has a way of reducing one to where there is nothing left but hope.
God may take your knowledge of Him and test it and purify it in the fiery crucible of inlightenment.
It is of greatest comfort to the sufferer, knowing that they are "right" before God. Consequently what God has in store for them, though painful and void of their full understanding, they can rest in knowing as Job did the blessedness of God.
The comfort that only God can give in the midst of the storms of life is seen by the response of the Christian to those storms. Let us examine a few responses:
Nothing can separate us from God. ~ Romans 8:35
God's grace will be sufficient. ~ II Corinthians 12:9
There is nothing to fear. ~ Psalm 91:5
We are graven upon God's hands. ~ Isaiah 49:16
The Lord will sustain us. ~ Psalm 55:22
God's comfort will enable us to comfort others. ~ II Corinthians 1:4
Our souls can be commited to our faithful Creator. ~ I Peter 4:19
Absent from the body, means present with the Lord. ~ II Corinthians 5:8
In our distress, we can call and He will hear. ~ Psalm 18:6
Waiting on the Lord will bring courage and strength. ~ Psalm 27:14
God is faithful. ~ I Corinthians 1:9
There is no need for anxiety. ~ Philippians 4:6
To live is Christ, and to die is gain. ~ Philippians 1:21
Our citizenship is in heaven. ~ Philippians 3:20
The Lord is our stronghold. ~ Nahum 1:7
God will be with us. ~ Isaiah 43:2
Perfect peace is ours when our minds are stayed on God. ~ Isaiah 26:3
Everlasting strength is given. ~ Isaiah 26:4
God's rod and staff will comfort us. ~ Psalm 23:4
The Lord is the great deliverer. ~ Psalm 34:19
Inward renewal is promised. ~ II Corinthians 4:16
Our afflictions are only momentary in comparison to the eternal weight of glory. ~ II Corinthains 4:17
God is merciful and his compassions will not fail. ~ Lamentations 3:22
Rest is promised. ~ Matthew 11:28
Our sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the future glory. ~ Romans 8:18
Christ has overcome the world. ~ John 16:33
He is the healer of broken hearts and the binder up of wounds. ~ Psalm 147:3
Weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning. ~ Psalm 30:5
In everything give thanks. ~ I Thessalonians 4:18
I will bless the Lord at all times. ~ Psalm 34:1
This sickness is for God's glory. ~ John 11:4
God will supply all our needs. ~ Philippians 4:19
Rejoice in the Lord always. ~ Philippians 4:4
God's grace will make us perfect, stablish, strengthen and settle us. ~ I Peter 5:10
All things do work together for good. ~ Romans 8:28
Trials bring patience, experience and hope. ~ Romans 5:3-4
Our suffering with Christ will bring glory with Him. ~ Romans 8:17
Trials preceed entrance into God's kingdom. ~ Acts 14:22
Death holds no sting. ~ I Corinthians 15:55
The Lord upholdeth us. ~ Psalm 145:14
Victory is given by Christ. ~ I Corinthians 15:57
When my soul fainted, I remembered the Lord. ~ Jonah 2:7
God will never leave or forsake us. ~ Hebrews 13:5
God bears our grief and carries our sorrows. ~ Isaiah 53:4
Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, but rejoice. ~ I Peter 4:12-13
Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil? ~ Job 2:10
The Lord gives and the Lord takes, blessed be the name of the Lord. ~ Job 1:21
The hope of eternal life. ~ I Peter 1:3-4
God is my refuge and strength. ~ Psalm 46:1
Our afflictions teach us God's statutes. ~ Psalm 119:71
We are comforted because of God's Word quickening us. ~ Psalm 119:50
God is my portion forever. ~ Psalm 73:26
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. ~ Habakkuk 3:17-18
My hope is in God. ~ Psalm 43:5
The Lord comforts and is merciful to the afflicted. ~ Isaiah 49:13
When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold. ~ Job 23:10
While there is breath in me, my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. ~ Job 27:3-4
I have heard thee, but now my eye seeth thee. ~ Job 42:5
I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. ~ Philippians 4:11
Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. ~ Job 13:15