5 TRUTHS YOU MUST REMEMBER DURING SUFFERING AND PAIN

YOU ARE NOT A VICTIM OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT

READ PSALM 53

Psalm 53:3

They have all fallen away;

together they have become corrupt;

there is none who does good,

not even one. 

God has made His evaluation; those who do not recognize Him are fools. God is watching them, completely aware of all they do. Their thoughts and intents are corrupt, and consequently their actions are evil. Their lust and desires drive them.

At birth, every human being falls into this category. Even though all are not equally evil in their behavior, they are continually sinning by nature.

For anyone to expect anything different is foolish. For anyone to expect reformation, apart from heart transformation, is also foolish. As a consequence, living in this world is arduous for those who seek to please God.

Many believers spend too much time complaining about this reality and fretting over it. It is easy, as we deal with the fall-out, to forget God’s role in all of this.

Every action of man is filtered through God’s meticulous and particular sovereignty. We are never victims of our environment. God is carefully allowing the consequences of man’s evil in our lives, always with perfect and eternal purposes in them.

1 Peter 5:10-11

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

1 - Pain produces repentance and godliness.

2 Corinthians 7:9-10

 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 

2 - Difficulties drive us into His arms, away from the world.

Through this, His grace and strength brings glory to His name. Our suffering transforms us into the image of His Beloved Son.

Romans 5:3-5

Not only that, but 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. 

3 - Pain and suffering prepare us to be helpers to other believers and shining lights for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

 

4 - Suffering causes us to desire heaven.

Romans 8:18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 

5 - Suffering causes us to rely on God. 

Our suffering is understood by Christ. He will never allow us to suffer without giving us the grace we need to persevere in the trial.

Hebrews 2:18

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Even though the world seems to be oblivious of the work of God, we must not forget these truths. The Israelites needed to be reminded, too, and they were able to trust in God’s final victory.

Psalm 53:6

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!

When God restores the fortunes of his people,

let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.

I know that many who read these devotionals are going through very difficult times. May your day be filled with greater resolve and purpose, as you reflect on God’s eternal work in you, His final victory, and your eternal destiny.