Title: Meaning of Suffering/James 5:13
Content Not everyone in this world rejoices in suffering. However, all those who live with their feet on this earth cannot escape the path of suffering. Suffering is for everyone. They come in different sizes and colors, but everyone is destined to suffer. Therefore, Job confesses in Job 5:7, "Life is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward."
When we face hardships in our lives, if we know the meaning of hardships and deal with them well, hardships bring us blessings. However, if we do not unconditionally avoid hardship, resist it, and do not take proactive measures, it can lead our lives to the path of ruin.
Paul had a thorn in the flesh. The thorn in this body indicates that he had a very serious illness. I prayed hard for the disease, but it did not get better. In the midst of this, many will become frustrated, give up, and resent. However, Paul realized that the thorn in the flesh was God's will to pray and depend more on God, and he prevailed. His sufferings gave rise to the triumph of faith.
Therefore, I hope that you will immediately realize the meaning of suffering and become victorious saints.
1. Suffering can be a punishment from God.
When parents educate their children, they teach as discipline, but when they know they are going astray, they take the whip of discipline. When parents put on the 'overprotective' border and let their child go astray, the child is bound to fall into debauchery. It is filial piety to the parents even after the children who have been disciplined with a whip when they make a mistake are grown up.
God also punished the people of Israel who rebelled and rebelled against Him and ruled with chastisement. God tried to bring Israel back through discipline.
Even today, God makes us realize our mistakes through discipline. This is because the suffering of discipline can be a means of repentance that awakens faith.
Hebrews 12:5-13 says, "And I have forgotten the exhortation to you, as I exhorted sons, saying, "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, nor be discouraged when he rebukes you; the Lord disciplines those whom he loves. and every son whom he receives, he scourges.” For you are patient with discipline, because God treats you like sons, how can there be a son whose father does not discipline him? We are not true sons, and if our physical father disciplined us, but we honored them, how much more should we not be more submissive to the Father of all spirits and live? For any discipline does not seem pleasant at the time, but sad, but to those who have been trained by it later it produces a peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, raise up weary hands and feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet. So that my legs can be healed without being distorted.”
2. Suffering can be a means of showing God's glory.
Israel's exodus from Egypt is portrayed as a series of hardships, but on the other hand, it can also be said to be the story of God's miraculous history.
When the exodus Israel came to the Red Sea, there was a strong wave in front of it, and the black blade of the Egyptian army behind it. Israel was faced with extreme hardship. However, that suffering was God's prelude to a great miracle that Israel had never seen in any history. God made it known that He is the absolute ruler of heaven and earth and all things through the miracle of dividing the Red Sea. The Israelites crossed through the divided Red Sea, but the Egyptian army that followed was buried. It was God's great victory.
Also, when the Israelites wandered through the wilderness, they were thirsty because there was no water for three days. But they found water, but it was bitter and could not be drunk. Then God, through Moses, cut branches and put them into the water. Then, the miracle of Ara's bitter water turned into sweet water was revealed.
It was to teach that God is YHWH, who works miracles to change the environment through the sufferings of Israel. By sending manna and quail from heaven, God performed a miracle that allowed millions of Israelites to live in the wilderness for 40 years.
Once, while Jesus was walking on the road, a man was blind from birth. So the disciples asked. “Rabbi, whose sin is it that this man was born blind, or his or his parents?” (John 9:2) Then the Lord answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God may be revealed” (John 9:3). After that, Jesus spit on the ground, made mud, put it on the eyes of the blind, and said, “Go to the Pool of Siloam and wash” (John 9:7). This man went to Siloam to wash, and his eyes were opened. Everyone was amazed and amazed. This man was blind because God's miracle was revealed, and he showed God's power to everyone, and he did it to prove that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah.
We often go through many hardships and sufferings. Through this, we come to God, pray, fall on our faces, and experience great miracles before God, so that we can experience the living God ourselves and testify of the living God to others. This is to allow for such an opportunity.
Psalm 34:19 says, "The afflictions of the righteous are many, but the Lord delivers them out of them all." Hebrews 4:14-16 says, "Therefore, we have a great high priest, who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God. And let us hold fast to our faith. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was in all respects tempted as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace.”
Because our Lord Jesus experienced all suffering in His body while He was on this earth, He is able to rescue us who have suffered and understands those who suffer. Therefore, when various hardships come to us, we rather rejoice greatly and go to the Lord to pray and experience God's power to overcome hardships.
3. Suffering becomes the way to create a changed tomorrow.
If we positively accept suffering and endure it, eventually it will be transformed into great blessings. Which mother has seen giving birth to a child without suffering? When giving birth to a child, the mother goes through a lot of hardship, but through it, she has a beautiful child. In this way, in order to produce tomorrow, we must go through today's hard work and suffering.
Look at Joseph's suffering! At the age of 17, he was sold as a slave by his brothers.
What can you say about Joseph's feelings at that time? Joseph was a slave in Potiphar's house for 11 years. Then, he was framed by Potiphar's wife and imprisoned for two years. However, Joseph positively accepted this suffering as coming from God, and in the end he was selected as the prime minister of Egypt from that prison. If Joseph had rebelled against it, complained, groaned, and gave up when he was suffering, he would have been destroyed through suffering.
It was an opportunity to awaken the great work of God through suffering and to create a new world. In Genesis 50:19-20, "Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, shall I be for God?" It is recorded.
Also, Romans 8:28 says, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.”
A better tomorrow than the present we dream of, a better future than now, is achieved by overcoming hardships. Heaven was established through the sufferings of Christ on the cross. Through the sufferings of the cross, everyone who believes in him will be saved and made to become God's people. That is why you cannot enter the new world without going through hardship.
If you do not resist, grumble, and groan about the difficulties that are approaching, but acknowledge and accept them as gifts from God, give thanks, pray, and persevere, in the end, suffering will surely bring amazing blessings.
4. Suffering is what makes us strong.
Suffering makes us strong.
The body becomes rather weak when not used. That's why the older you get, the more you need to exercise. In the same way, just as the physical body becomes strong only through constant training, our spiritual life also becomes stronger and stronger through suffering.
The Bible says in James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you meet various trials, for you know that the trial of your faith produces patience, so that you may be complete and equipped, that you may be complete and equipped. so that there will be no lack of anything.”
“Only he knows the way I go, and after he has tried me I will come out as gold.” Even when forging silver, if you boil the silver in a crucible, dregs will rise on top. Then, after removing the impurities until there are no impurities, you get pure silver.
There is absolutely no way to become like the image of Jesus Christ except through suffering. That is why God wants us to become saints who endure through hardships big and small so that our lives become more like the image of Jesus Christ.
In suffering, real and fake are distinguished.
Friends say "I love you" and "I don't have a friend like you" and praise them to the point of salivating them, and they are by their side, but when hardships approach and tribulation shines, those friends sometimes turn into nasty friends. But true friends never change. Even when hardships come, it is a true friend to lose sweetly together.
Like honey, it is usually sweet and good, but when the fire is turned off, it smells bad. When suffering comes, many people rebel against Christ and turn their backs on Him. It is only when trials and tribulations come, and hardships come, that it will be revealed whether it is real or fake. A person of sincere faith is the more sincere, the more loyal and the more devoted the more troubles come.
It is when we are at our darkest and darkest and when we are suffering, that is when we really see it. That is why he who gives up his faith when he suffers is a fake. But the more they suffer, the more they show their fragrance, the more devoted and more loyal they are.
Suffering makes us strong. It builds strong faith.
It is difficult to overcome the first hardships, but when you overcome the first hardships, you will have the courage to not be afraid of any difficulties.
Those who overcome hardships remain strong saints.
Suffering is a punishment from God who loves us. The saints who turn and return to the Lord.
Suffering is a sign of the glory of God. We hope that you will overcome our hardships and become saints who glorify God.
Only those who overcome hardship have a future.
Only those who overcome hardships become strong.
A saint who realizes the will of God that He wants to accomplish for us through suffering and overcomes suffering and wins.
Don't be surprised by the hardship.
Don't give up or get discouraged in the midst of hardship
I hope that you will overcome and overcome through prayer, accomplish God's will through suffering, and become a saint who always overflows with strength both physically and mentally.