God's Grace Resources for Coping with Suffering: God's Overall Policy of Grace
The scripture tells us that we are saved "by grace, through faith", and that this is "a gift which comes from God" and not "from our own works" (Eph.2:8-9). Grace is God's perfect policy of dealing with sinful man. He does the work, we reap the benefits; and the scripture is quite clear about the fact that our work contributes nothing to salvation, but that salvation is available only because of the work of Jesus Christ. On the cross, Christ suffered and died for us all. This God did for us as a matter of "grace", that is to say He did it freely and graciously, giving us a gift rather than rewarding us for anything we had done.
Consequently, we are saved when we believe in Jesus Christ. As a result of this salvation, we can look forward with confident expectation (elpis, "hope") to the day when we shall never have to suffer again. By being judged for our sins and in our place, Jesus Christ accomplished the only truly meritorious work in the Plan of God, and thus opened up the great "treasure chest" of God's grace to all believers. God deals with us after salvation in the same essential way in which He dealt with us before salvation: in grace. After salvation we enjoy a multitude of wonderful blessings as His children. The first and greatest blessing is salvation and the confidence it imparts of eternal life (a blissful future existence where all pain and hardship will be forever absent). But, on account of Christ's work (and our non-meritorious acceptance of His work through our faith in Him), we believers are now beneficiaries of God's grace in this life as well (Rom.6:14-15). The Greek work for "grace" is charis, and charis means "favor", and "goodwill". As human beings, we are born sinful (our heritage resulting from the Fall of Man; cf. Rom.7:20), but when we accept Jesus Christ as our savior, God's attitude towards us is transformed from one of hostility to one of kindliness (Eph.2:3-7). We are now His children, and He looks after us in love. The psalmist puts it this way: "I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread" (Ps.37:25). It would be difficult to delimit the power and scope of the "grace" or favor of God in which we believers now stand, for it touches every aspect of our lives. God now treats us as His beloved children, constantly providing for and attending to all of our needs (Matt.6:25-34). There has never been a time when God has not been faithful to us in supplying all of our needs. He never fails to do His part; our part is merely to remember this fact and to trust that He never will.
God's Primary Grace Means of Coping with Suffering: Truth is the primary tool whereby we may effectively meet and deal with life's problems. This requires a bit of explanation. The type of "truth" which helps us through our difficulties is the "truth" in our hearts, fully understood, believed, and applied to those difficulties. Doctrinal information located in the Bible but not in our hearts will be of no use when the hard times come. Furthermore, if we are familiar with Bible verses and biblical principles, but choose not to believe them, they will be of no use to us in coping with adversity. How could we know how to cope with suffering or what to think or how to act in times of trouble if God had not made provision for us (Rom.10:14-15)? But God has made provision for us. He has supplied the food, shelter, and clothing, the textbook (the Bible), places of assembly, teachers, and a vast array of support staff (every believer, afterall, has some spiritual gift designed to promote the spiritual growth and welfare of the whole Body of Christ) to deal with all of our needs. We have, therefore, everything we need to pursue spiritual growth. All we need to do is contribute the faith. God intends for all of the Truth of His Word to mix with faith in our hearts (in the same way it did when we believed in His Son, Jesus Christ). So in order to handle adversity in the way in which God desires, we need to find out what He says about this subject (and all others), believe what He says, and apply His words to the problems which confront us. Ultimately, spiritual growth requires that we set ourselves to learning all of God's counsel, rather than confining ourselves to selected topics that happen to apply to our current situation or pique our interest. God intends for us to prepare ourselves for all of the circumstances of life (including suffering) by hearing, believing, and using the truth contained in the Bible. He has provided us with the Bible, teachers, and the means and opportunity to learn His principles of truth.
Principles of Truth Relating to Suffering:
1. God is working everything in our lives (including suffering) for our good
(Rom.8:28; Gen.50:20).
2. We can have happiness in the midst of suffering, knowing that our endurance is producing spiritual growth and will be rewarded (Jas.1:2-4; 2Cor.4:17; Rom.5:3-4; 1Thes.5:18; 1Pet.4:13; 2Pet.1:5-8).
3. We can take comfort in the knowledge that the Lord will never ask us to bear any burden which we are unable to bear, and will always provide us with a way out, whether that "escape hatch" leads around or, perhaps, through ,the current suffering (1Cor.10:13).
4. The Lord often has a purpose in allowing suffering which may not be readily apparent at the time. The death and resuscitation of the widow's son lead to her belief in the Lord (1Kg.17:24). The death and resuscitation of Lazarus was very painful for our Lord, but he was glad for it because of the belief it fostered (Jn.11:15). The cripple of John 9 was not born so because of anyone's sin, but to manifest the glory of God when he was healed (Jn.9:3). Job underwent such suffering that his patience in enduring it has become proverbial, but he was unaware that the Lord was using him to manifest His power and glory (Job 1:8; 2:3; and see Job 42:10). We may not fully understand the reasons for all the suffering that we and our fellow Christians undergo in this world, but we must remember that the Lord does have the best reasons for permitting it. Let's continue to trust Him.
5. The suffering which we undergo does pay a certain dividend: it gives us an experience out of which we can help others in their hour of trial, for all of us will have to endure hardships of some sort in this life (1Cor.1:3-4; 1Pet.4:12; 1Pet.5:9). 6. We can also draw encouragement in our suffering from the examples in the Bible.
The scripture is replete with case studies of fellow believers, many of whom had to undergo suffering beyond our own imagination. We need only read of the troubles of Job and Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel, or one may almost say, of practically every believer of note with whom God was pleased. These believers not only managed to survive personal hardships, but also to thrive in that they continued to love and trust the Lord, and to maintain their spiritual progress in spite of suffering. The writer of Hebrews catalogs this phenomenon in chapter 11, telling us that "by their faith", all the great believers of the past were able to overcome the various trials and tribulations life offered them, knowing that God had something better for them than all the riches the world could offer. After all, our Lord suffered for us, so that we might live forever in peace and happiness in eternity (1Pet.2:21; 4:1).
Conclusion: Finally, let us not forget that God has given us his comforter, the Holy Spirit (Jn.14:16). If we only relax and trust the Lord, His Spirit will help us, comfort us, and fill our hearts with a joy that transcends our present pain, no matter how deep the pain, no matter how intense the suffering (1Pet.4:14; Rom.5:3-5).
Illustrations of Suffering
“It may be cancer or a sore throat. It may be the illness or loss of someone close to you. It may be a personal failure or disappointment in your job or school work. It may be a rumor that is circulating in your office or your church, damaging your reputation, bringing you grief and anxiety.”40 It can be anything that ranges from something as small and irritating as the bite of a mosquito or the nagging of
a gnat to the charge of an elephant or having to face a lion in the lions’ den as with Daniel (Dan. 6).
Suffering is Predetermined and Inevitable
1 Thessalonians 3:3 so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you
yourselves know that we have been destined for this.
1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust
their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
The question we must each face is not, “if” we are going to have trials in life, but how will we
respond to them.
Suffering is a Struggle
It’s going to be a battle all the way. That’s why they are called “trials” and “testings.” Even when we
understand the purposes and principles of suffering, and we know the promises of God’s love and
concern given in the Word of God for handling suffering, dealing with the trials of life is never easy
because suffering hurts. Trials simply give us the capacity to cooperate with the process (Jam. 1:4).
They allow the process to work and allow us to experience inner peace and joy in the midst of the
trials.
In order to handle suffering with inner joy and tranquillity, we must be able to look ahead to God’s
purposes and reasons for suffering. This requires faith in the eternal verities of God.
Compare the blessings of affliction as seen in the testimony of the Psalmist in Ps. 119:
Before affliction:
Straying and ignoring (vs. 67a)
During and in affliction:
Learning and turning (vs. 71, cf. vs. 59)
When under affliction we need
to:
Determine Causes if we can (Is it because of something I have
done?)
Determine Objectives (What is God wanting to do in my life or in
others?)
Determine Solutions (How does God want me to handle this?)
After affliction:
Knowing and changing (vss. 67b, 97-102)
Resting and valuing (vss. 65,72)
The following questions are designed to help us “consider” in the day of adversity:
(1) How am I responding to it?
(2) How should I respond to it?
(3) Am I learning from it?
(4) Does my response demonstrate faith, love for God and for others, Christ-like character, values, commitment, priorities, etc.?
(5) How can God use it in my life?
Consequently, we are saved when we believe in Jesus Christ. As a result of this salvation, we can look forward with confident expectation (elpis, "hope") to the day when we shall never have to suffer again. By being judged for our sins and in our place, Jesus Christ accomplished the only truly meritorious work in the Plan of God, and thus opened up the great "treasure chest" of God's grace to all believers. God deals with us after salvation in the same essential way in which He dealt with us before salvation: in grace. After salvation we enjoy a multitude of wonderful blessings as His children. The first and greatest blessing is salvation and the confidence it imparts of eternal life (a blissful future existence where all pain and hardship will be forever absent). But, on account of Christ's work (and our non-meritorious acceptance of His work through our faith in Him), we believers are now beneficiaries of God's grace in this life as well (Rom.6:14-15). The Greek work for "grace" is charis, and charis means "favor", and "goodwill". As human beings, we are born sinful (our heritage resulting from the Fall of Man; cf. Rom.7:20), but when we accept Jesus Christ as our savior, God's attitude towards us is transformed from one of hostility to one of kindliness (Eph.2:3-7). We are now His children, and He looks after us in love. The psalmist puts it this way: "I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread" (Ps.37:25). It would be difficult to delimit the power and scope of the "grace" or favor of God in which we believers now stand, for it touches every aspect of our lives. God now treats us as His beloved children, constantly providing for and attending to all of our needs (Matt.6:25-34). There has never been a time when God has not been faithful to us in supplying all of our needs. He never fails to do His part; our part is merely to remember this fact and to trust that He never will.
God's Primary Grace Means of Coping with Suffering: Truth is the primary tool whereby we may effectively meet and deal with life's problems. This requires a bit of explanation. The type of "truth" which helps us through our difficulties is the "truth" in our hearts, fully understood, believed, and applied to those difficulties. Doctrinal information located in the Bible but not in our hearts will be of no use when the hard times come. Furthermore, if we are familiar with Bible verses and biblical principles, but choose not to believe them, they will be of no use to us in coping with adversity. How could we know how to cope with suffering or what to think or how to act in times of trouble if God had not made provision for us (Rom.10:14-15)? But God has made provision for us. He has supplied the food, shelter, and clothing, the textbook (the Bible), places of assembly, teachers, and a vast array of support staff (every believer, afterall, has some spiritual gift designed to promote the spiritual growth and welfare of the whole Body of Christ) to deal with all of our needs. We have, therefore, everything we need to pursue spiritual growth. All we need to do is contribute the faith. God intends for all of the Truth of His Word to mix with faith in our hearts (in the same way it did when we believed in His Son, Jesus Christ). So in order to handle adversity in the way in which God desires, we need to find out what He says about this subject (and all others), believe what He says, and apply His words to the problems which confront us. Ultimately, spiritual growth requires that we set ourselves to learning all of God's counsel, rather than confining ourselves to selected topics that happen to apply to our current situation or pique our interest. God intends for us to prepare ourselves for all of the circumstances of life (including suffering) by hearing, believing, and using the truth contained in the Bible. He has provided us with the Bible, teachers, and the means and opportunity to learn His principles of truth.
Principles of Truth Relating to Suffering:
1. God is working everything in our lives (including suffering) for our good
(Rom.8:28; Gen.50:20).
2. We can have happiness in the midst of suffering, knowing that our endurance is producing spiritual growth and will be rewarded (Jas.1:2-4; 2Cor.4:17; Rom.5:3-4; 1Thes.5:18; 1Pet.4:13; 2Pet.1:5-8).
3. We can take comfort in the knowledge that the Lord will never ask us to bear any burden which we are unable to bear, and will always provide us with a way out, whether that "escape hatch" leads around or, perhaps, through ,the current suffering (1Cor.10:13).
4. The Lord often has a purpose in allowing suffering which may not be readily apparent at the time. The death and resuscitation of the widow's son lead to her belief in the Lord (1Kg.17:24). The death and resuscitation of Lazarus was very painful for our Lord, but he was glad for it because of the belief it fostered (Jn.11:15). The cripple of John 9 was not born so because of anyone's sin, but to manifest the glory of God when he was healed (Jn.9:3). Job underwent such suffering that his patience in enduring it has become proverbial, but he was unaware that the Lord was using him to manifest His power and glory (Job 1:8; 2:3; and see Job 42:10). We may not fully understand the reasons for all the suffering that we and our fellow Christians undergo in this world, but we must remember that the Lord does have the best reasons for permitting it. Let's continue to trust Him.
5. The suffering which we undergo does pay a certain dividend: it gives us an experience out of which we can help others in their hour of trial, for all of us will have to endure hardships of some sort in this life (1Cor.1:3-4; 1Pet.4:12; 1Pet.5:9). 6. We can also draw encouragement in our suffering from the examples in the Bible.
The scripture is replete with case studies of fellow believers, many of whom had to undergo suffering beyond our own imagination. We need only read of the troubles of Job and Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel, or one may almost say, of practically every believer of note with whom God was pleased. These believers not only managed to survive personal hardships, but also to thrive in that they continued to love and trust the Lord, and to maintain their spiritual progress in spite of suffering. The writer of Hebrews catalogs this phenomenon in chapter 11, telling us that "by their faith", all the great believers of the past were able to overcome the various trials and tribulations life offered them, knowing that God had something better for them than all the riches the world could offer. After all, our Lord suffered for us, so that we might live forever in peace and happiness in eternity (1Pet.2:21; 4:1).
Conclusion: Finally, let us not forget that God has given us his comforter, the Holy Spirit (Jn.14:16). If we only relax and trust the Lord, His Spirit will help us, comfort us, and fill our hearts with a joy that transcends our present pain, no matter how deep the pain, no matter how intense the suffering (1Pet.4:14; Rom.5:3-5).
Illustrations of Suffering
“It may be cancer or a sore throat. It may be the illness or loss of someone close to you. It may be a personal failure or disappointment in your job or school work. It may be a rumor that is circulating in your office or your church, damaging your reputation, bringing you grief and anxiety.”40 It can be anything that ranges from something as small and irritating as the bite of a mosquito or the nagging of
a gnat to the charge of an elephant or having to face a lion in the lions’ den as with Daniel (Dan. 6).
Suffering is Predetermined and Inevitable
1 Thessalonians 3:3 so that no man may be disturbed by these afflictions; for you
yourselves know that we have been destined for this.
1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust
their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
The question we must each face is not, “if” we are going to have trials in life, but how will we
respond to them.
Suffering is a Struggle
It’s going to be a battle all the way. That’s why they are called “trials” and “testings.” Even when we
understand the purposes and principles of suffering, and we know the promises of God’s love and
concern given in the Word of God for handling suffering, dealing with the trials of life is never easy
because suffering hurts. Trials simply give us the capacity to cooperate with the process (Jam. 1:4).
They allow the process to work and allow us to experience inner peace and joy in the midst of the
trials.
In order to handle suffering with inner joy and tranquillity, we must be able to look ahead to God’s
purposes and reasons for suffering. This requires faith in the eternal verities of God.
Compare the blessings of affliction as seen in the testimony of the Psalmist in Ps. 119:
Before affliction:
Straying and ignoring (vs. 67a)
During and in affliction:
Learning and turning (vs. 71, cf. vs. 59)
When under affliction we need
to:
Determine Causes if we can (Is it because of something I have
done?)
Determine Objectives (What is God wanting to do in my life or in
others?)
Determine Solutions (How does God want me to handle this?)
After affliction:
Knowing and changing (vss. 67b, 97-102)
Resting and valuing (vss. 65,72)
The following questions are designed to help us “consider” in the day of adversity:
(1) How am I responding to it?
(2) How should I respond to it?
(3) Am I learning from it?
(4) Does my response demonstrate faith, love for God and for others, Christ-like character, values, commitment, priorities, etc.?
(5) How can God use it in my life?
