God is the one who can help you endure whatever hardship you’re going through. The more you press into his grace, the brighter your hope will be. And your life in Christ will be even more satisfying.
Hi, I’m Joni and not long ago a listener shared an uncomfortable comment.
You know I love it when you email me your reflections, even when they are not always encouraging. This one listener took issue with the fact that I’m always talking about my hardships, talking about my pain and paralysis. She inferred that I focus on it too much. Okay, sure, her comment made me uncomfortable, but let me tell you why I talk about suffering so frequently. Because sometimes Christians undersell how bitter, how awfully bitter suffering really is. Instead [and with the best of intentions], they feel it necessary to make light of it in order to make much of the sufficiency of God’s grace to sustain, as well as the abundant peace he provides in our problems. They feel that Christians who groan under the pains of life come across as spiritually immature. More than that, they chastise other believers who, when they are hit with tragedies, struggle with God’s sovereign plan. Well, I am not about to undersell how hard, how very hard suffering can be. And I have as my example the Lord Jesus himself who, on the night before his crucifixion groaned and sweated and pleaded, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.”
Right there, our Savior was not minimizing or underselling his afflictions. He, if anyone, knows how gut-wrenching suffering can be. And perhaps you wrestle with hard afflictions. So, I’m not about to pretend it does not hurt. And I hope that it encourages you to run your painfully difficult race with perseverance. So sure, yes, I talk a lot about suffering, but I also talk a lot about perseverance and patience and contentment and endurance. For all who suffer, God says to “Run with endurance the race marked out for you.” God has sovereignly marked out a path for each of us, and that path is filled with hardships. It’s why it says, “run with endurance.” The word “endurance” assumes that the path of life is hard. The apostle Paul underscores that in Romans 5 when he writes that “Suffering produces endurance; endurance, character, and character produces hope.” Endurance and character? They don’t happen without the real and often terrible heartache of suffering. And I know this to be true. Christian character does not come easy for me. It’s striving; I am always pressing on through intractable pain; it’s holding onto the hope that is promised, even if through tears. Sometimes I grope my way through chronic pain. But that’s the way of endurance. Yet the longer you endure; the more persistent you press into God’s grace, the brighter your hope will be. And the more satisfying your life in Christ.
And so, this is why I frequently talk about sufferings and hardships. I never want to undersell or minimize your personal tragedies. And so, I will keep sharing hope in your hardship, and pointing you to the Lord Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, who understands your afflictions. He will never fault you or castigate you for the difficult struggles you go through. Rather, he is the one who will, and can, help you endure! And your encouragement to keep enduring today is from Jeremiah 31:25. God says to you my friend, you who are tired and feeling faint from suffering; God says, “I satisfy the weary ones and I refresh everyone who languishes.” And those are your hope-filled words from your Savior in your suffering.
© Joni and Friends