Two sides of the same coin

I may have written about this before, but through some conversations (no Lee they aren't cite-able! but are a fertile ground to get the ball rolling) with some dear friends I've decided to perhaps revisit this idea.  This simple little idea is suffering.

This crux has set more doubt in our minds maybe more than any other question about God.  Why do we suffer?  How can an all-loving God let us suffer?  Now, I'm not here to answer any of those large questions, and I also think that some of these questions can/should be tied into justice, which is God's alone.

But I want to leave these questions behind because they are too big for my minuscule brain to tackle.  What I can discuss though is a quote from the Valley of Vision, which if you read my blog know I'm a really big fan of.  It comes from 'Divine Promises' and goes like this:

May I not instruct thee in my troubles,
   but glorify thee in my trials.

As my roommate Lee always exclaims during catchphrase® 'this is a comparison, four words.' Although this is more than four words, it is a comparison.  A single event described in two ways.  It is divided into two ideas, 1) a circumstance, 2) our reaction to it.

Something has happened.  Someone is hurting.  Someone is broken.  God is chastening the one that he loves.  How do we react?

The last word in each line should be all the indicator of the point that needs to be made.  Do I view events that happend to me as trials or troubles?  It's not just a pithy use of vocabulary, but the word choice defines the point of view.  Do I perceive things as bad (a circumstance that either the Lord doesn't know about, or that he is powerless to control) or as hard-but-good for God's glory?  Know that God allows 'bad' things to happen to us for His glory.  As Matt pointed out in his sermon this weekend, we don't always know how how it glorifies God (such as children dying), but rest assured it does and someday we'll know why.

Troubles imply an inward focus.  Troubles happen to us.  We want them to be fixed.  The point of a trouble is for it to go away.  Compare that to a trial, something we walk through.  Something we look to the Lord to get us through.  Trials don't need to be 'fixed', we must practice patience through them.  They teach us something about God.  The Bible is littered with the word trial in this manner, unlike troubles which can usually be found when describing intense, personal pain and an inward focus.

The other comparison has to do with our reaction.  Do we instruct the Lord on what to do?  This comparison is interesting because instruct and glorify are not antonyms, it's saying that the answer is not simply to be instructed by the Lord, but to glorify him.  Now it is glorifying to the Lord to be submissive to him.  Being submissive is not the same as 'happiness'.  It's not saying 'grin and bear it', but more 'suffer well knowing this is happening for a reason and you will bear the image of Christ more because of it'.  It's still difficult, but suffer well saints.  In that you are glorifying God.  The glorification isn't whether you are happy about it now, but whether you are trying despite your circumstances (or character traits) to sincerely be obedient to the Lord.  This is glorifying God, to follow when it hurts.

I find much hope in Romans 5:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  (emphasis mine)

Suffer well good and faithful servants of the Lord.  Know that if you rejoice in your sufferings (glorify him in your trials) it leads to endurance, which leads to godly character, which leads to hope which will never put us to shame.  It's all for his glory.  To paraphrase Lewis; 'he was serious when he said he wanted us to be like his son and he will never quit as long as we live'.  He chastens those he loves, like a good Father would.

Know too, that it's only a season, there is hope!  Push forward in the Lord, cling to the cross and know that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will never leave or forsake you, never.  Nothing can separate us from the love of the Lord (Romans 8).

Weeping may tarry the night,
   but joy comes with the morning.
                            -Psalm 30:5a


It may be a long night, one you may not think you can handle, but there is joy in the morning.  Be patient, suffer well.