Five Purposes for Suffering

For those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

We seldom know the micro reasons for our sufferings, but the Bible does give us faith-sustaining macro reasons.

It is good to have a way to remember some of these so that, when we are suddenly afflicted, or have a chance to help others in their affliction, we can recall some of the truths God has given us to help us not lose hope.

Here is one way to remember: 5 R’s (or if it helps, just pick three and try to remember them).

The macro purposes of God in our sufferings include:

Repentance: Suffering is a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God. Luke 13:4–5:

“Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Reliance: Suffering is a call to trust God and not the life-sustaining props of this world. 2 Corinthians 1:8–9:

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.

Righteousness: Suffering is the discipline of our loving heavenly Father so that we come to share his righteousness and holiness. Hebrews 12:6, 10–11:

“The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” . . . He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Reward: Suffering is working for us a great reward in heaven that will make up for every loss here a thousandfold. 2 Corinthians 4:17:

This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Finally, Reminder: Suffering reminds us that God sent his Son into the world to suffer so that our suffering would not be God’s condemnation but his purification. Philippians 3:10:

. . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings.

So, it is understandable that the Christian heart would cry out in suffering, “Why?” since we don’t know most of the micro reasons for our suffering — why now, why this way, why this long? But don’t let that ignorance of the micro reasons cause you to overlook the massive help God gives in his word by telling us his macro purposes for us.

“You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11).

John Piper 

Bible Study

Job 1:21

[21] And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Job 2:10

[10] But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job 42:10

 Restores Job’s Fortunes

[10] And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Exodus 34:6-7

[6] The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Are You Seeking the Will of God?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:1-4

 

PONDER THIS

Sometimes our prayers are utterly selfish rather than God-centered. That’s one reason we don’t get our prayers answered. But do you know what enmity with God means? It’s talking about warfare. When James mentioned adulterers and adulteresses, he wasn’t talking literally; he was talking spiritually. Christ is the bridegroom and we’re the bride. And if we want anything that the bridegroom does not want, we are flirting with this world, and we are taking away our love from our Lord and Savior the bridegroom. To love this world is spiritual adultery, and it is enmity, warfare, with God. Don’t have a girlfriend called “This World,” if you are a Spirit-filled man. And if you’re a Spirit-filled woman, don’t have a boyfriend called “This World.” That is spiritual adultery. Many times, we ask God for things in this way. We ask God to underwrite our worldliness. We ask God to underwrite our carnality.

Whenever you pray about anything and the answer doesn’t come, ask yourself this question: Are my motives pure? Am I earnestly, sincerely, with all my heart, seeking the will of God? And sometimes the answer, therefore, may be simply denied.

When have you prayed with selfish intentions?

What does it look like to earnestly seek the will of God with all your heart?

PRACTICE THIS

Read Psalm 51:10. Take some time to pray and ask God where there has been selfishness in your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Prevailing Grace

“I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners.” (Isaiah 57:18)

Learn your doctrine from biblical texts. It stands up better that way, and feeds the soul.

For example, learn the doctrine of irresistible grace from texts. In this way, you will see that it does not mean grace cannot be resisted; it means that when God chooses, he can and will overcome that resistance.

In Isaiah 57:17–19, for instance, God chastises his rebellious people by striking them and hiding his face: “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry” (verse 17).

But they did not respond with repentance. Rather, they kept backsliding. They resisted: “But he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart” (verse 17).

So grace can be resisted. In fact, Stephen said to the Jewish leaders, “You always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51).

What then does God do? Is he powerless to bring those who resist to repentance and wholeness? No. He is not powerless. The next verse says, “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners” (Isaiah 57:18).

So, in the face of recalcitrant, grace-resisting backsliding, God says, “I will heal him.” He will “restore.” The word for “restore” is to “make whole or complete.” It is related to the word shalom, “peace.” That wholeness and peace is mentioned in the next verse which explains how God turns around a grace-resisting backslider.

He does it by “‘creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace (shalom, shalom), to the far and to the near,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will heal him’” (Isaiah 57:19). God creates what is not there — peace, wholeness. This is how we are saved. And this is how we are brought back from backsliding — again and again.

The grace of God triumphs over our resistance by creating praise where it did not exist. He brings shalom, shalom to the near and the far. Wholeness, wholeness to the near and the far. He does it by “restoring,” that is, replacing the disease of resistance with the soundness of submission.

The point of irresistible grace is not that we can’t resist. We can, and we do. The point is that when God chooses, he overcomes our resistance and restores a submissive spirit. He creates. He says, “Let there be light!” He heals. He leads. He restores. He comforts.

Therefore, we never boast that we have returned from backsliding. We fall on our faces before the Lord and with trembling joy thank him for his irresistible grace that conquered all our resistance.

John Piper 

Bible Study

James 4:7-8

[7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Lamentations 3:57-58

    [57] You came near when I called on you;

        you said, ‘Do not fear!’

    [58] “You have taken up my cause, O Lord;

        you have redeemed my life.

Zechariah 1:3

[3] Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.

Isaiah 1:16-17

    [16] Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

        remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;

    cease to do evil, 

    [17]     learn to do good;

    seek justice,

        correct oppression;

    bring justice to the fatherless,

        plead the widow’s cause.

Worship God in Every Season of Life

PRAY OVER THIS

“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.’” John 4:21-22 

 

PONDER THIS

What is the highest good? What is the ultimate privilege? Here Jesus said it so clearly: we’re to love God.

We are to love Him thoughtfully with all our hearts. A full heart is no excuse for an empty head. Serve the Lord with knowledge and wisdom. Love Him in spirit and in truth. Then we love Him practically with all our strength—everything we do. Whatever we do in word or deed, we do to the glory of God. (See Colossians 3:17.)

What is worship? It’s giving God glory. The Bible says to serve your masters, according to the flesh, as if they were Jesus, for you serve the Lord God. (See Ephesians 6:5.) Your workplace can be your temple of devotion, your lampstand of witness, as you worship God with all your strength. That’s what Jesus was telling this woman. She said, “Do we worship here, or do we worship there?” Jesus said, “Woman, you worship in spirit and in truth.” There is no place that is not a holy place. There is no ground that is not sacred ground. There is no time that should not be a time of worship.

Where in your life is it hardest for you to worship God?

What would it look like to worship God as you work throughout your day?

PRACTICE THIS

Write down one way you can commit to worshiping God as you work in your home, at your job, or in any other place He has called you for this season.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Caused to Return

Cause us to return, O Lord, that we may return! (Lamentations 5:21, my translation)

There is no hope for God’s people unless God causes them to return from their sliding and leaping into sin and unbelief.

The book of Lamentations is the bleakest book in the Bible. God himself had decimated the apple of his eye: Jerusalem.

The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations. (Lamentations 4:11)

He has killed all who were delightful in our eyes. (Lamentations 2:4)

The Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. (Lamentations 1:5)

So how does the book end?

It ends with the only hope there is:

Cause us to return, O Lord, that we may return! (Lamentations 5:21)

That is my only hope — and your only hope!

Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32).

Not if you return. But when you return. I have prayed for you! You will return. And when you do, it will be my sovereign grace that brought you back from the precipice of apostasy.

Christian, this is true for you. This is your only hope of perseverance in faith. Glory in it.

Christ Jesus is the one who . . . is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

He will cause us to return. Therefore, “to him who is able to keep you from stumbling . . . be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever” (Jude 1:24–25). Amen!

John Piper