The Benefits of Weakness and Suffering

No one likes illness, suffering, or pain, yet the results of these things can have eternal value. It has been said that if dependence upon God is the objective, then weakness is an advantage. Weakness and suffering have tremendous advantage for our salvation and sanctification. The sixteenth-century theologian, Theodore Beza attributed his conversion to a severe illness and the consequent fear of death:

He approached me through a sickness so severe that I despaired of my life. Seeing his terrible judgment before me, I could not think what to do with my wretched life. Finally, after endless suffering of body and soul, God showed pity upon His miserable lost servant and consoled me so that I could not doubt His mercy. With a thousand tears, I renounced my former self, implored His forgiveness, renewed my oath to serve His true church, and in sum gave myself wholly over to Him. So the vision of death threatening my soul awakened in me the desire for a true and everlasting life. So sickness was for me the beginning of true health (letter to Melchior Wolmar, May 12, 1560).

In a similar vein, the apostle Paul spoke of the benefit of weakness and suffering in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10:

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

If we love eternal things more than our temporary comfort and convenience, we will be willing, like Paul, to suffer for our own good and the glory of God. This is what God has been teaching me today!

Putting out the Fleece, Part 6: Listen to your Friends

So, you’re facing a major life decision, and you’re nearly at the fork in the road. Time for contemplating is past, and the decision must be made. Your options seem equally attractive. Either could arguably be a choice with which God will be pleased.

You are trusting God’s good heart toward you (guidance principle #1 we discussed several weeks ago). You are resting in God’s sovereignty (principle #2). You have been working hard at becoming the kind of person God can guide through growth in Christlikeness (principle #3). You are living a life marked by obedience, walking in the light you’ve already been shown from the Scriptures (principle #4).

Yet still you’re unsure. Now what? Well, there is another resource God has placed in your life, one you may have overlooked. That resource is the wise counsel of your family, your friends and fellow believers.

Notice, I said wise counsel. Not every friend is wise, and not all counsel is wise, so this requires discernment. I’m talking about listening to the friends who, like you, are working hard at becoming God’s kind of person. They are searching the Scriptures daily. When they talk, the Bible comes out. They, like you, are deeply committed to making choices which glorify God and move toward God’s ultimate goal for us (Rom. 8:29).

Study the “one another” texts in the New Testament, and you’ll come away impressed with how involved believers should be in one another’s lives. We are to counsel one another (Rom. 15:14), to teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16), to exhort one another (Heb. 10:24-25), and to bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2).

God’s people shouldn’t make major life decisions in the privacy of their closet, even if their Bible is open! God has given us to each other, and we need each other. So thank God for your wise friends, actively seek their perspective, and listen to them. They are just one of the resources through which God will make plain the path ahead of you.

“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” Prov. 15:22

“Where there is no guidance a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” Prov. 11:14

“Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war.” Prov. 20:18

Putting Out the Fleece, Part 5: Walk in the Light You Already Have

The hour is late. The night is dark. You are many miles from your home and eager to get there. You climb in your car and turn the key, relieved to hear the engine roar to life. You switch on the headlights, and you have a problem. 

The lights are working, but they only illuminate the next few hundred feet of the road that takes you home! The remaining miles between you and home are still blanketed in darkness. How will you make it home without winding up in a ditch?

You begin to drive, and something wonderful happens. Once you travel across the clearly illuminated stretch of road, you can now see the next stretch. And then the next. And the next. You drive in the light you have, across what you can clearly see, until at last the lights fall on the welcome sight of your driveway. You made it!

That silly scenario illustrates an important principle for discerning God’s will in our lives:

Principle #4 – Walk in the light you already have.

John’s Gospel (chapter 7) describes a skirmish in the ongoing battle between Jesus and the Jewish religious elite. The people are debating whether Jesus is the Messiah or an imposter. They can’t figure out how He could teach with such power when He had not formally studied in their schools. In so many words, they are asking, “How can we know whether Jesus is from God? How can we know whether we should commit our lives to follow Jesus?” (v. 12-15)

Jesus answered them, “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” In other words, do what you already know to do if you want God to show you what to do next! He continued, “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law.”

God has clearly revealed His will in the Scripture. He wants us to become like His Son, the Lord Jesus (Rom. 8:29). You are to be becoming God’s kind of husband/father, God’s kind of wife/mother, God’s kind of employee, etc. The Bible is filled with instruction for exactly what God expects in each of these areas.

So, the question to ask myself as I’m trying to figure out the future is a question about the present. Are there any areas of known disobedience to God’s clear commands in my life right now? If so, I need to stop worrying about the future and drive in the light I have. Get busy becoming obedient to whatever that next step is that God has shown you.