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This spring was a great one for the Viburnum bush in our front yard. It produced masses of stunning white blossoms. The bush grew from a cutting, taken decades ago from a Viburnum in my in-laws’ yard in northern Maine. They called it a “Snowball Bush” because of those blossoms. But one year our Viburnum was nearly dead. A single spindly branch was all that remained alive, but with time and proper care it revived and flourished.

We all experience dry and difficult “seasons” in life – times of illness, of loss and pain. When those come, we often struggle, doubt God, and are even tempted to give up. The question of why God allows suffering can’t be fully explored in a few hundred words. But let this fellow sufferer suggest three things:

1. Sometimes God uses suffering to teach us about Himself.

In Second Corinthians chapter 12, the Apostle Paul struggled with an un-named physical or emotional issue. Three times he begged God to take it away, but instead God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in [your] weakness” (verse 9). Once he understood that, Paul’s attitude toward his suffering changed. In the song Through it All (1971), gospel singer and songwriter, Andrae Crouch, expressed his feelings about suffering. In one stanza, Crouch wrote:

“I thank God for the mountains,
and I thank Him for the valleys,

I thank Him for the storms
He’s brought me through.

For if I’d never had a problem,
I’d never know that God could solve them,

I’d never know what faith in God could do.”

2. God also uses suffering to strengthen us.

Because of cerebral palsy, I endured numerous surgeries when I was growing up. Each surgery was followed by long recovery periods, often in casts. Physical therapy – or as I called it, “physical torture” – came next, as unused, stiff, and weak muscles had to be made to function all over again. It certainly is true that what we don’t use we lose. Muscle tone and strength can only be built up and maintained by conscious effort and regular activity. The same is true spiritually. Spiritual strength will only develop during times of trial and testing. The New Testament book of James is often called, “The Epistle of Practical Christianity.” At the very beginning James tells us, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers [various] temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh [causes or produces] patience” (James 1:2-3). Likewise, Romans 5:3-4 says that, “…tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.” There are no shortcuts to spiritual growth and maturity.

3. Ultimately, God uses suffering to accomplish His plan and purpose for our lives.

No one is here by “accident.” God works in, through – and even in spite of – the circumstances in our lives to fulfill that plan and purpose. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Not every experience is pleasant, or even makes sense to us at the time, but it will result in good.

Friend, God’s goal for every genuinely saved person, every blood-bought, heaven-bound child of God, is for them to become more like His Son, Jesus. He wants them to come “…unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). That is far more than “cleaning up our act” and becoming more moral or religious. It means reflecting the very nature and character of Christ on a consistent basis. That begins with salvation, with having a genuine relationship with God. God created us to have fellowship with Him. Sin destroyed that fellowship, but Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (John 1:29), our perfect, sinless substitute, took that sin on Himself. He paid the penalty for it on the cross. He suffered and bled and died in our place so that our relationship with God could be restored. No religious ritual or ceremony can do that.

How should you respond to what Christ has done for you? Simply this: Admit your sin. Trust Christ alone for salvation. Ask Him to save you, and He will. Here is His promise in John 6:37:

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Blessings to you!
Daniel Benton

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