Suffering

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Count It All Joy To Be Thus Tried

Although it is true that ‘whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives’–still we are not all called upon to suffer great tribulation. God appoints for each, the discipline needed to prepare him for glory. With some He deals gently, for ‘He knows how much the weak can bear.’ He sees the tenderness of their spirits, the gentleness of their nature. With others He may appear to deal more harshly–He alone knows how hard and stubborn is their will, how great their backslidings, how needful all this seeming severity. He also permits great tribulation to fall upon some, that they may be examples to His Church; examples of love, of patience, of long-suffering–and is not this an honor? Shall we not count it all joy to be thus tried? 

And has not God promised to proportion His consolations to the sufferings of His people? With what powerful comfort will such a passage as that which we are meditating upon, come home to the deeply-tried Christian–to him whose tears are wrung from him by pain of body, loss of friends, one bitter affliction after another: ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes!’ (Revelation 7:17)

The anticipation of suffering is often a cause of greater anguish than suffering itself; for though we are told not to worry about anything–still, the anxious mind will often distress itself with gloomy forebodings while in this valley of tears. But in Heaven, we shall have no fear of evil–no cause for fears. God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes: the tear of sympathy, the tear of pity, the tear of separation, the tear of pain, the tear of godly sorrow for sin, the tear of disappointed hope, the tear of wounded affection–shall flow no more! ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes!’ (Revelation 7:17) “

– Maria Sandberg, Glimpses of Heaven

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One Second of Glory Will Outweigh a Lifetime of Suffering

“Finally, the apostle here weighed the ‘sufferings’ of this present time over against the ‘glory’ which shall be revealed in us, and as he did so he declared that the one is ‘not worthy to be compared’ with the other. The one is transient, the other eternal. As, then, there is no proportion between the finite and the infinite, so there is no comparison between the sufferings of earth and the glory of heaven.

One second of glory will outweigh a lifetime of suffering. What were the years of toil, of sickness, of battling with poverty, of sorrow in any or every form, when compared with the glory of Immanuel’s land! One draught of the river of pleasure at God’s right hand, one breath of Paradise, one hour amid the blood-washed around the throne, shall more than compensate for all the tears and groans of earth. ‘For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us’ [Romans 8:18]. May the Holy Spirit enable both writer and reader to lay hold of this with appropriating faith and live in the present possession and enjoyment of it to the praise of the glory of Divine grace.”

– Arthur W. Pink, Comfort for Christians, p.18-19

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One Second of Glory Will Outweigh a Lifetime of Suffering

“Finally, the apostle here weighed the ‘sufferings‘ of this present time over against the ‘glory‘which shall be revealed in us, and as he did so he declared that the one is ‘not worthy to be compared‘ with the other. The one is transient, the other eternal. As, then, there is no proportion between the finite and the infinite, so there is no comparison between the sufferings of earth and the glory of heaven.

One second of glory will outweigh a lifetime of suffering. What were the years of toil, of sickness, of battling with poverty, of sorrow in any or every form, when compared with the glory of Immanuel’s land! One draught of the river of pleasure at God’s right hand, one breath of Paradise, one hour amid the blood-washed around the throne, shall more than compensate for all the tears and groans of earth. ‘For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.‘ May the Holy Spirit enable both writer and reader to lay hold of this with appropriating faith and live in the present possession and enjoyment of it to the praise of the glory of Divine grace.”

– Arthur W. Pink, Comfort for Christians, p.18-19

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Whatever the Believer Has or Lacks is From the Lord

“Knowing that he or she can trust in God, and confident that God will provide for all the needs of life, the godly man or woman submits to God’s provision and praises God for the wisdom with which he is overseeing his or her life: ‘The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance’ (vv.5-6). The believer knows that whatever he has or lacks is from the Lord; he delights to know that it is a good and wise God who portions his blessings, the greatest of which is himself. If the believer has God,  that is more than enough.”

– Richard Phillips & Sharon Phillips, Holding Hands Holding Hearts, p.57

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God’s Ways Do Not Change

“He continues to act towards sinful men in the way that He does in the Bible story. Still He shows His freedom and lordship by discriminating between sinners, causing some to hear the gospel while others do not hear it, and moving some of those who hear it to repentance while leaving others in their unbelief; thus teaching His saints he owes mercy to none, and that it is entirely of His grace, not at all through their own effort, that themselves have found life. Still He blesses those on whom He sets His love in a way that humble them, so that all the glory may be His alone. Still He hates the sins of His people, and uses all kinds of inward and outward pains and griefs to wean the hearts from compromise and disobedience. Still He seeks the fellowship of His people, and sends them both sorrows and joys in order to detach their love from other things and attach it to Himself. Still He teaches the believer to value His promise gifts by making him wait for them, and compelling him to pray persistently for them, before He bestows them. So we read of Him dealing with His people in the Scripture record, and so He deals with them still. His aims and principles of action remain consistent; He does not at any time act out of character. Man’s ways, we know, are pathetically inconsistent–but not God’s.

– J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p.70-71

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One Statement We Will Say In Heaven

“What wondrous wisdom will appear in everything that we had to go through in the days of our flesh! We shall remember all the way by which we were led, and say, ‘Wisdom and mercy followed me all the days of my life. In my sicknesses and pains, in my losses and crosses, in my poverty and tribulations, in my bereavements and separation, in every bitter cup I had to drink, in every burden I had to carry, in all these was perfect wisdom.’ We shall see it at last, if we never saw it before, and we shall all see it together, and all unite in praising Him that ‘led us by the right way to a city of habitation.’ (Ps. 107:7)”

– J.C. Ryle, Heaven, p.41-42

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Prayer Can Lighten Crosses For Us

“Prayer can lighten crosses for us, however heavy. It can bring down to our side One who will help us to bear them. Prayer can open a door for us when our way seems hedged up. It can bring down One who will say, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ Prayer can let in a ray of hope when all our earthly prospects seem darkened. It can bring down One who will say, ‘I will never leave you, nor forsake you.’ Prayer can obtain relief for us when those we love most are taken away, and the world feels empty. It can bring down One who can fill the gap in our hearts with himself, and say to the waves within, ‘Peace; be still.’ Oh that people were not so like Hagar in the wilderness, blind to the well of living waters close beside them.”

– J.C. Ryle, A Call to Prayer, p.19-20