21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust — there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.
Myths about suffering vs. God's view:
| Man's View | God's View |
|---|---|
| As Christians we should not suffer in this life. | We are called to suffer for Him (1 Peter 2:20-21) |
| When we are living in His will, living godly lives, we should experience few hardships. | We must go through many hardships to enter His kingdom. We were destined for trials (Acts 14:22, 1 Thess. 3:3) |
| Suffering means something is wrong. It is an abnormal state. | Suffering is normal, and inevitable in this Christian life (2 Tim. 3:12) |
| Suffering has no redeeming or positive results. | God uses suffering for our good, to conform us to the likeness of His Son. (Rom. 8:28-29) |
| Suffering means we can have no joy. It robs us of the choice to rejoice. | We have a choice to rejoice in our suffering. |
| Spiritual people don't hurt emotionally when they suffer. | Spiritual people feel many painful emotions when they suffer (Mark 14:33-34, 2 Cor. 2:4) |
| If God really loves us, He won't let us suffer very much. His love means that He will put a hedge around us to keep terrible trials from entering our lives. | He didn't prevent His own Son from suffering (Rom. 8:32) and He didn't prevent Paul, Peter, John the Baptist, Job and others He loved from suffering greatly. |
| When we do suffer God is punishing us out of anger. He is vindictive and wants us to suffer when He is angry with us. | Suffering may be God's loving discipline for our good (Hebrews 12:7-11) |
Tommy Nixon shared that if we are to be deep with Jesus, if the church is going to be the Church that God always intended us to be then we need to enter into pain, struggle and suffering and when we do we will find Jesus. Lamentations teaches us that in the midst of struggle and suffering we find clarity as we are brought to a place of dependence only on God. This deepens our relationship with Him. Entering into our own suffering and the suffering of others is essential for depth with Christ and produces the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians.
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