For a Christian who hasn't really faced an unusual amount of suffering in life, I'm not entirely sure why God has me address it so often in my ministry. Perhaps it's just a great need in our day? God only knows.
It can be difficult for us to see suffering in our lives as a gift from God. It usually feels like anything but a gift! Pastor Paul Chappell asked in his book, Stewarding Life, "...what if God’s best gifts are wrapped in black paper? What if the heaviest packages are full of God’s richest grace?" The Bible shows that to be a truism; time after time, passage after passage.
Consider what Moses rehearses in the ears of the people of Israel as they are about to enter into God's Promised Land.
God allowed His own people to go hungry -- really hungry! That kind of hunger pain, coupled with no visible source of food in the desert for 2.5 million people, would certainly test their faith, prove their obedience, and bring them to their knees before God in humility.
Or, not.
Moses' point is this... God allows suffering into your life to humble you, to prove you, to reveal to you what is in your heart, to show whether or not you will be obedient to Him.
Take special note: trials don't reveal anything to God. He already knows what is in your heart and is perfectly sure of how obedient you will be. Trials reveal to you and me who you and I really are.
However, within that same suffering, God met their need in ways that they could not even comprehend. He sent manna. Daily. His supply, mercy, and grace were given to a hungry, dependent, and now trusting people.
In the midst of your own pain, God also meets your needs in ways you cannot yet imagine. He leads you and me to the point of realizing that there are things in life that are far more important, far more eternal than our present hardships -- things which are found in His Eternal Word. His commands to holiness. His promises to you.
As a loving father corrects and guides his erring child, so God the Father disciplines and leads us in the right path toward the Land of His Promises.
Moses says as much two verses later: "Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee." Deuteronomy 8:5
The Apostle Paul, so well-schooled with Old Testament Scripture, still had to learn this lesson on a personal level. We are blessed that the Holy Spirit prompted him to write of his personal pain via his "thorn in the flesh" in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "And he [God] said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness..."
So, what was Paul's take on whether or not suffering is a gift from God? "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
May we say the same, even through our tears.
