By Ashlie Miller
The book of Job in the Bible is not usually the first book to consider reading when beginning a new year. However, for many Christians reading the Bible in chronological order, Job is often nestled as an interruption of sorts in the reading of Genesis. For those unfamiliar with him, Job’s life of integrity is put to the test by Satan as he plagues Job with numerous devastations (loss of properties, death of all his children, severe personal illness) – hardly the stuff for setting a positive tone on a new calendar.
Often, we mistakenly think that “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” (it’s the lyrics of a hit song, after all). Maybe our responses to trials can bring that about, but it is not an iron-clad guarantee. So, then, why does a Sovereign God allow such suffering? Perhaps you’ve heard it posed this way: “Why do good people suffer?”
I cannot pretend to have all the answers to that profound question. However, I can share the stream of pondering I have had lately. Theologian John Calvin wrote, “Whatever be the kind of tribulation with which we are afflicted, we should always consider the end of it to be, that we may be trained to despise the present, and thereby stimulated to aspire to the future life.” We love the things of Earth so deeply, yet this world is broken and fallen and has been that way since shortly after its creation. Our Creator longs for us to know more than this world, to experience true communion with Him fulfilled in eternity. When we cling to the Earth too much – adoring and worshiping it with our time and resources – we look to it for fulfillment, which always leaves us wanting. Suffering reminds us Who alone satisfies, the One who deserves our adoration and worship.
A friend reminded me recently of the song “God is Good” by Jonathan McReynolds:
“May your struggles keep you near the cross
And may your troubles show that you need God.”
“Near the cross” – a place of repentance, forgiveness, and comfort.
There is much to learn in suffering. Much we will never grasp on this side of eternity. We certainly do not want to make the sweeping (and wrong) accusations as Job’s friends did, assuming his trials were retribution for a sinful life. Sometimes, godly people suffer for God’s glory and man’s humility.
Suffering can remind us that our temporary affection for Earth will never be fully satisfied and, therefore, should create a longing for something eternal and permanent. In proper humble response, suffering can develop humility and a reflection of our place in the grand scheme of things – humans in need.
Trials can produce good things in us – far too many to mention here. Remember that often, in addition to our personal growth, the hard times are a gift of grace – to bring us closer to the cross, closer to a Creator who is also a Savior. In God’s wisdom and love, He allows us to know Him as more than Creator (which is incredible) and experience Him personally as Redeemer, Restorer, Deliverer, and Comforter, to name just a few.
Ashlie Miller is a pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mom to five children in Concord, NC. Contact her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com
