The writer to the Hebrews tells us, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that “though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” If our Heavenly Father felt it necessary to teach His only begotten son obedience through suffering, we should not be surprised when we also have to endure suffering.
We should ask: what lessons are we to learn from the suffering we are enduring? Since we know that all things work together for good for those who are called by God, we must recognize that our suffering is for our good. We need to look for God’s purpose in bringing these experiences into our lives.
Recently I have experienced the most suffering of my life. As I lay in the hospital bed, cut across the chest from the open heart surgery, with both legs lined with scars from the tumor operation and from harvesting the veins for the bypass, I wondered what lessons God intended for me to learn through this difficult time. I knew that God had given me this experience for my benefit. I prayed I would be a good student, willingly learning what He intended, and growing in wisdom and understanding.
The writer to the Hebrews explains that we should expect some suffering in our lives, and that it is the Lord’s way of showing us that He really loves us. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”
I now have a better appreciation for what feeble arms and weak knees are, because never before have I ever had such feeble arms and weak knees. I am not allowed to pick up anything that weighs more than five pounds. My knees are so weak that I can barely stand; I have been using a walker for support. Although I know that I am not the only one to feel this way, for these surgeries are being done every day in hospitals around the world, I now know firsthand what it feels like, and how frail our bodies are.
Experiencing these types of problems can make us either bitter or better. Paul is a comfort to us when he tells us that there is no temptation or trial that we endure which is not common to mankind, but that God is faithful and will not allow us to be tried beyond what we are able to bear.
These verses filled my thoughts as I lay wide awake in the middle of the night — hurting, it seemed, everywhere. It is one thing to memorize verses and be able to repeat them, but it is an altogether different thing to apply them personally while enduring the trial, the pain and the suffering that God is giving us for our ultimate benefit.
One lesson that came out of all this — loud and clear — is how much I am looking for and yearning for the return of our Lord. Old age and the conditions that go with it certainly help us to understand what Job meant when he said, “I would not live always.” Job also declared, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him”… because he knew that when our life ends, that is not all there is. Paul tells us, “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” What a comfort it is to know that in life or death, we are in our merciful Heavenly Father’s hands. Paul also longed for relief from the burden of suffering he was enduring as, with a heavy heart, he declared, “We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
We want to live always, but not with this frail mortal body. Our experiences in suffering help us to long for the coming of the Lord, who will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
In the meantime, I thank God that He has spared my life. And I pray that all of us may redeem the time we have left, so that all we do may be done to the glory and honor of His Name.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One