(Didn't want to start a new thread but I couldn't find an existing related topic.)
Is suffering good for you?
Is this what "All things work togther for good" means for Christians.
What's been your experience? Has it been good for you emotionally, physically, as well as spiritually?
Anybody damaged spiritually by suffering?
And what kind of suffering is good for you?
I'd love some testimonies, rather than bible quotes. But if we are going to use the bible, how do we understand the book of Job? I find the story of Job more and more the main pattern for our own Christian walk with God.
This could be posted on another thread to explain why I am almost officially "post-Charismatic".
I know that I had my wilderness experience almost immediately after my conversion.
Some really bad things needed to be addressed. I needed to be convinced of the uniqueness of Christ. And God had (?) to use the material that was around me. So He used persecution. He put my personality with very worldly people and hammered me through them. It was a miserable time.
In a way I'm glad it happened, but I'm not pleased God did it that way. Couldn't He take me aside and explain the issue? I would have changed my attitudes.
This is why I think our suffering is like Job's. There's no explanation, no word from God, no comfort while it's happening. Sometimes it just seems heaped on top of itself and everyone's advice seems like coming from Job's comforters.
I especially resented the apparently strong faith of other Christian students, benefitting from strong families and Christian traditions.
It's this thing about why doesn't God just tell us what He wants to change in us? Are we just too stupid and too self-deluded? Don't we have the will-power to crucify the flesh if that's what God wants?
A number of people have shared how God brought them to the edge of their tether so that whatever they did, things went pearshaped.
And yet I know a pastor who said he'd never suffered. Maybe he was just more sanctified right from the start.
But I know it made it difficult for him to empathise with those suffering. He just wanted to 'give them space'
Then I know a guy who occasionally attends church. He's very intense spiritually. (or maybe it's just with his bible). But he's had breakdowns and his kind of Christianity just makes it worse. He's very knowledgable about the bible but is that really his suffering sanctifying him? He's very intolerant and bigotted really. He keeps going on about his suffering refining him. But I don't see much of it, really. Far better would be for him to get an ordinary job and mix with ordinary worldlings. IMHO.
Dear brethren, I am not sure what kind of persecutions you went through, but I must assure you that God did it for YOUR good. Remember what is written:
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. (Hebrews 12:11)
The Lord brings about all these trials and tribulations, to test you, try you, and discipline you. He does it out of benevolent love and only benevolent love, this you know, don't you?
Now consider my case, and see if I am persecuted worse than you were.
My parents and I knew nothing about God or Jesus Christ before my conversion - we were complete atheists. Before I came to Christ, I lived in a family permeated with violence. My father was a hot-tempered and violent man, and his temper almost tore the family apart. There was from time to time threats of suicide/divorce whenever my parents quarelled. My heart was filled with hatred, lies and cursing, and I was on the brink of destroying myself through my bitterness and thoughts of suicides. The Lord, in His great love and mercy, brought me to Him and cleansed me of the bitterness and hatred in my heart.
The very night I gave my heart to Christ, my father angrily forbid me from going to Church and from reading the Bible with threats. I had to do everything religious in a hidden manner, so as not to rouse my father's anger. I did not go to Church, and had a Bible that no one around me could teach. My only reliance was God Himself, and I prayed to Him. In His divine providences, He led me on in His light when all around me was darkness. My religious attitude was soon discovered by my parents, and I had quarrels with my parents over this. They cursed me, accused me of being possessed, being brainwashed, and even used physical violence against me to kill off my faith in the Lord. I can honestly say (unless my memory failed me) that I heard the worst words from their mouth only after I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. I struggled so many times in my sins because of their persecution, but God did not leave me alone to despair. I repented every time I sinned, and He cleansed me from my wickedness and brought peace to my heart. I ran away thrice from my parents because of their persecutions, if not for God, I know not where I would be now.
Though I can see that satan was in every way trying to destroy my family and my faith, God sustained me in all these trials, and I learned so much in my 5 over years of faith in Him. He built up my character in these persecutions, and my heart and faith is tried to the utmost. I can only thank Him for considering me worthy of suffering so much for His Name's sake, and I cannot forget how He showed me His deep and profound love for all of us, His children. I admit that many times I did not know why I am persecuted, but I rest in God's providences and I have decided in my heart that all is in His control and He will work it out in His good and precious way. Isn't this what we should do if we truly love and trust in Him?
Brethren, it is not right that we harbour a heart of resentment and complaint against God and His providences. This is exactly what Israel did in the wilderness and they tempted God because they grumbled and complained in their trials and refused to submit to God wholeheartedly. What is even more evident is that when we have a heart of complaint in us, we show that we do not trust in God and we have sinned in our disbelief. This ought not to be, and it grieves the Holy Spirit. Because of this heart of unbelief, the Lord called the children of Israel a "stiff-necked generation" and many of them were not able to inherit the land of promise because of their unbelief.
Repent, my beloved brethren, and submit your all to God, who loves you beyond your wildest imaginations. There are bound to be many things we will not understand fully, but we all know that God is Almighty and if we trust in Him and obey Him with all we have, everything will indeed work out for good. This is the least we can do for our Creator, who took so much pains to deliver us from our sins, don't you think?
May the God of peace shed His love abroad in your hearts through His Spirit. Amen.