Why do we suffer?

“For whom, He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”¹

Ricks Warren once said,”God depends more on circumstances to make us like Jesus than He depends on our reading the bible”. Why? Because we are doers not hearers of the Word.² It is in circumstance where we practice what we read, in practice do we experience Jesus.

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Therefore, since He truly lives in you, you will face many hardships. Many sufferings of flesh, soul, and spirit. But “beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you (that is, to test the quality of your faith), as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.”³ It is normal to go through temptations and trials of faith. Why? Warren says, “God uses problems to draw you closer to Himself”.

Warren says, remember, “none of your problems could happen without God’s permission”. How do we know that? Because all things work together for good to those who love God, those who are called according to His purposes.⁴

“Refiner’s fire that burns away the impurities” – Rick Warren

There are many situations/categories that you may be going through that is a trial of faith. I have learned that life is a series of situations and these situations are just trampolines to strengthen your relationship with Christ. The bible reveals to us, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience”⁵, another version reads, “no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”⁶ The bible tells of situations we go through, with the answer to help us though it. What relief, that nothing we go through is new to humanity. In Ecclesiastes, the second wisest man to ever live gives us, “What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.”⁷ The bad situations that happen, are difficult, however, we have internalized them as alarms that mean destruction and end. But, in Christ, that perspective changes, to opportunity.

1.) The refinement is extremely valuable

“These trails will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold- though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.”⁸ The bible says that with faith, it is possible to please God.⁹ Why? Because the reality He showed you according to your hope and His goodness even though you could not see or feel it; you decided to believe and put it on top of all elements.¹⁰ And when He made it a reality in this world, you said, “see, I knew it”. And the faith that has been purified in this way, nothing can break it. The sincerity of faith, God helps you see is one reason for why you will love who you are. You see yourself in the light God sees you and it becomes another reason for intimacy.

2.) The creation of reasons

I often wondered and worried what would keep me faithful. What would help me endure? Be the reason for why I stay? God then placed me in a process of falling in love with Him. Through this process I suffered a lot, learning that I live “under constant danger of death, because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be evident in our dying bodies.”¹¹ It was in uncomfortableness, in distress, and doubt that I learned the faithfulness and character of Jesus, so that I could have all reason and proof to continue. If life was cupcakes and rainbows, where would I learn to rely on Him, and if I don’t rely, I don’t need Him, and if I don’t need Him, I won’t be around Him, and no life without God, is the worst kind of suffering. I learned that through experience as well.

3.) Awareness is key, well one key

Mathew 16: 21 (NLT) starts, “Jesus began to tell His disciples plainly that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem, and that He would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law.” Let’s stop here, the word, “plainly” is a hint. Jesus was aware, that He would suffer. “Necessary” because His work, His refinement, would transform the dynamic of sin in humanity and bring heaven down to earth. Jesus as He was about to be arrested, prayed to God, asking Him to remove the responsibility, the weight, the burning of the fire He was about to walk through. “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”¹² Jesus basically told God, “I don’t want this, nevertheless, I want what You want.” Jesus is not indifferent to you, He knows exactly what you think, how you feel, all your nuances, He understands! Moving onto Jesus saying, “He would suffer many terrible things”, I’d like to point out that His crucifixion was not the only terrible thing He suffered. He suffered all, so we wouldn’t bear the grand weight of it all.

Christ is not indifferent to you

I used to view Jesus as this almighty, powerful thing that was far from me. He was too grand, so I thought He must not understand my smallness. He had too big of faith to understand my struggle in trying to grow my small faith. I’ve learned this is untrue. Once, I struggled with aligning my actions into God’s plan, searching for how I could implement God into my daily routine, Jesus knew how it was tormenting me, so He brought me to John 2:1, where He attended a wedding in Cana. The translations, “why do you involve Me? My hour has not yet come”¹³, “what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come”¹⁴, and “that’s not our problem, My time has not yet come”¹⁵, emphasized understanding. Jesus explained how He understood my emotion of confusion, of seeing unclearly, searching for how He could bring God into His situations, which was my issue. Then once He saw those water jars, He knew exactly how to use the opportunity into glorifying God. Christ not only died for your salvation, but to also be a threshold, so you could be a partaker of God’s exceeding glory.

What Jesus did	Why?…	For YOU
“But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.”¹⁶		“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.”²²
“a man of many sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.”¹⁷		“we are perplexed, but not driven to despair.”²³
“My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?”¹⁸		“we are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.”²⁴
“Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”¹⁹		“we get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”²⁵
“He was beaten…”²⁰		“…so we could be whole.”²⁶
“He was whipped…”²¹		“…so we could be healed.”²⁷

Jesus our perfect example

Continuing from when Jesus was predicting His death, “…Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such things. ‘Heaven forbid, Lord,’ he said. ‘This will never happen to you!” Looking at Peter, I would say that too because why would you agree with allowing something terrible to happen? A few verses before, Peter had been revealed in the identity of Christ²⁸, so I can imagine his concern. Peter shot a nerve because Jesus had been mentally preparing for the situation in order to accept it. Jesus responded, “Get away from Me, satan! You are a dangerous trap to Me.” Peter was misaligning Him, to get away from the acceptance of God’s will. Remember Jesus prayed, not my will, but Yours later on. Jesus says, “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s”. See Jesus knew His death was not negative. I read in a book one time that God found it good for Jesus to die. “But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush Him and cause Him grief. Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants”.²⁹

The technique Jesus uses for preparation is our model. In intimacy we can ask for the perspective of God and why it is good for us to go through the fires we will go through. Ask the Holy Spirit your reasons for why you continue, for why you endure, for why you obey and begin, for why you let go. Ask Him to teach you how to put your feelings below the Word of God.³⁰ “If any of you wants to be My followers, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Me”³¹, Jesus was in the midst of giving up His own way.

Just like how our faith is a process it was for Jesus too. We are constantly being refined, and so Jesus being human, experiencing complexity, was battling with His emotions of not wanting to go through death. He had to be a follower of God’s will. Jesus was already mentally preparing, from John 1: 51, He spoke His reality and so we see God affirming, is this something that is really cemented into you? This is trials, to see if your faith is sincere, to see if you have learned, to see if you depend on God. You can’t give anything that you don’t have. Jesus was first in doing this. He gave up His own way and took His cross. And look at the result of God’s will and Jesus’s obedience. That same operation works for us, we are co-inheritors with Christ³², so imagine the result of God’s will and our obedience. Jesus said we would do greater things.³³

Unlearn – learn

If you read of love and Jesus showers you with love, go and be that same love to other people
– experience

How do I know I am hearing God’s voice?

God speaks in many ways, but the most clear discernment is through His word, which is the bible.³⁴ Read it in the bible; that is His voice.

In experiencing troubles, I have learned it is simply God’s calling to get to know Him better. “For the rain He sends demonstrates His faithfulness.”³⁵ In order to dive deeper into Jesus, I have to unlearn understanding I internalized before I met Christ. For example, breaking mental barriers, practicing what God says about you, and meditating His opinion instead of yours.

The Word says, “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”³⁶

What can I end with?

“But let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing.”³⁷
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”³⁸
“So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for He will never fail you.”³⁹

To inform: most images on this page regarding the content above, are by Yongsung Kim