ATTITUDES FOR GODLY DEVELOPMENT: “SUFFERING”

• Suffering is a real, painful part of life in a fallen world, yet it is woven into God’s purposes through Christ.
• It’s biblical to see suffering not as God’s absence but as something He enters, redeems, and ultimately promises to end.

Why does suffering exist?

• The Bible teaches that suffering entered the world through human rebellion against God (sin) in Genesis 3, and the result is , not because God is indifferent.
• Suffering is not always a for specific sins.

God’s presence in suffering

• God is not from pain but has personally experienced it in the person of Jesus.
• Suffering CAN produce spiritual .

God’s presence in suffering

• Romans 5:3–5 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
• Trials what and whom a person trusts by showing reliance on God during suffering.

We can suffer because of serving Christ.

• Matthew 16.24-26 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
• Faithful may entail suffering, loss, and persecution.

• The Bible promises that suffering is , whereas God’s goodness and justice are .
• Revelation 21.4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.
• The view of suffering is that it is real and grievous, yet meaningful because God has entered it, redeems it, and will ultimately abolish it.
• For the believer in Jesus, being broken is to be blessed. The blessing comes only when we biblically to suffering and trials.
• Share the season of suffering, but do not about it.
• Jeremiah 18:1-6 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. 5 Then the Lord gave me this message: 6 “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.

“It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” A.W. Tozer

• Suffering is one of the sharpest tools for dislodging the we hold so tightly.

“When you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which you lay your head.” C.H. Spurgeon

• Matthew 26:39 My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.
• 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
• Here’s a maturity marker for believers in Jesus: Stop questioning God’s ways and that we are not in control; God is.
• When we suffer, let it not be because of behavior.
• 1 Peter 3:17 Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!

1. We all face trials, but not everyone through them. Many grow from the trial, and they grow in wisdom.
   1 Peter 1:6-7 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
2. God has a classroom, and suffering is God’s to help us become who we’d never become and have what we’d never have without His wise instruction.
   James 1.2-4 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

I don’t need to know how everything is going to end.
I just need to know that the Living God knows how it will end.

Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I know that the penalty of my sin is physical, spiritual, and eternal death. I acknowledge that I can’t do anything about my situation. But I know that You came to pay the penalty for my sin. I trust in You alone as the One who died in my place. I repent of my sin and trust in You alone as the only One who can place me in an eternal relationship with the living God. I desire to be Your child. I desire to live as Your child. In Your name. Amen.

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