When you handle trials with contentment and an uncomplaining spirit, people will notice! Yes, afflictions are hard. But as you face them with grace, others will see Jesus. Make Jesus the main character in your story of suffering, and you will have a story worth telling!
I’ve got a fascinating insight about suffering. Really.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and as I share with you today, Ken Tada and I, we’ve just finished going through the book of Job in our through the Bible in a year readings. When we got to the last chapter, we took a moment to reflect on everything Job went through: the loss of his children, his herds, servants, all his property. Then, boils and bad breath, back pain, sleepless nights. No wonder Job felt miserable. But just look at his testimony. Here we are thousands of years later, still reading about his story. Still learning about his God. Still amazed at his perseverance. Still astounded by the way the Lord blessed him. And so Ken and I were saying, “You know what, if it weren’t for this guy’s suffering, we wouldn’t even know about Job. All Job would be is some rich guy with a big family and a penchant for doing good deeds. But we wouldn’t know about him or care about him. Absolutely nothing would have set him apart or made his life worth reading about. It is only because of his affliction – his terrible affliction and the way he persevered – that is the power behind the story of Job. That is why we remember him and honor him. And the way he handled his suffering is why his story will continue to be told for countless ages, long into eternity. All for the glory of God.
And you know what? The same is true for you and me. Your sufferings set you apart when you handle them with grace and an uncomplaining spirit. Your hardships are worth remembering when you yield to God’s plan and find contentment in him. Your response to afflictions is what sets us apart from the pack. Just look at other notables besides Job. I mean, I don’t know who came up with this list, but just consider this – okay, here goes:
“Lock him in a prison cell, and you have a John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have George Washington. Raise him in abject poverty, and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Strike him down with paralysis, and he becomes Franklin Roosevelt. Burn him so severely that the doctors say he’ll never walk again, and you have a Glenn Cunningham—who set the world’s one-mile record in 1934. Deafen him and you’ve got a Beethoven. Have him or her born black in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you’ve got Booker T. Washington, or Marian Anderson, or George Washington Carver. Call him a slow learner, ‘disabled’ and write him off as uneducable, and you have an Albert Einstein.”
True, not all these people claimed Christ as their Savior, but guess what – we’re still talking about them; their stories are still being told; all because of the way they handled their afflictions. Now, just think how more glorious and more magnificent the story is when those afflictions point people to Jesus Christ! When Jesus is the central character in your story of suffering. Oh, my goodness, it’s worth telling for all of eternity. And so, friend, let God write your afflictions into a storyline that will have people talking for a long time to come. Let your afflictions enrich the script of your life, making your story worth telling to others. So yield to God and accept the hardships he brings. Yes, I know it’s hard, but do it, would you? And let your contentment, and your godliness, and perseverance, and patience; let your endurance and grateful heart get people around you talking about the God of the Bible who gives you grace enough to endure. That’s your hopeful word today in whatever hardship you’re facing.
© Joni and Friends