Sometimes I wish I could be more like the Apostle Paul in his perseverance of serving the Lord. He never let anything get in his way of serving His Lord or preaching the Gospel. His sufferings were unparalleled. He received forty strips on several occasions, he was beaten with rods three times, he was stoned once and shipwrecked three times. His appearance was weak and his speech contemptible yet he pressed on preaching the glory of the Messiah.
What about Job? He lost all of his children, his wealth and his health all in one day. He was covered with boils and smelled like rotten flesh yet he never stopped worshiping God and he never blamed Him for his suffering.
Hurt, heartache, disappointment and hardships happen throughout each of our lives. Some people experience more than their share of these and we wonder why? Why does God allow so much pain into one family? What is His purpose? Sometimes it is crystal clear but most times we are uncertain of God’s purpose for our suffering. We can, however, be certain of one thing – we will know all things when we meet our Savior face to face. Until that time we must continue to trust in the Lord and have faith that He is in control and that all things will work together for good for those who love Him. Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
We have a purpose in life and that purpose is not about us, our family our job or status in the community; it is about worshiping the Holy God of Heaven and sharing our faith with the lost. God expects us to be obedient in sharing His Word with the outer most parts of the world. To you and me the outer most parts of the world could be in our own back yard or even be in our own household.
We all have suffered in this life and there is no doubt that we will have more sorrow and heartache before our time on earth is through. As long as we keep our eye on the prize (salvation) we will have peace and joy in our hearts and our lives will be filled with the glory of our Heavenly Father.
2 Corinthians 1:3-11 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
2 Corinthians 4:15-18 this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
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