Hopeful Thoughts on Suffering and Affliction

I ran across a Bible study I did in 2016 and found it to be very helpful. I hope you find it uplifting.

Romans 5: ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Suffering is the part of a Christian’s daily walk. Suffering leads the way to profound changes in our character. Suffering allows us to build our spiritual muscles so that we can make it until Jesus returns. God has given us his Holy Spirit to enable us to endure suffering.

This paralysis has profoundly changed my character. It’s given me more patience, it’s made me a better listener, and I’ve become a more compassionate human being. I am less judgmental of others. I love my friends and family more fiercely. And the greatest of all, I have a deep-seated gratitude for the smallest of things to the greatest of things. What has led to all of this growth has been my ability to persevere through suffering with prayer and Bible study.

Psalm 119: ⁴⁹ Remember your word to your servant, for you have given me hope. ⁵⁰ My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.

Suffering is an opportunity for me to learn to trust God and to know he has a plan for my life. It’s a time for me to not turn away from his law, but to fight all the more valiantly in my relationship with him. Living like this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and yet it is worthwhile if it saves my soul. Now that I am sitting in this wheelchair, God has my full attention, each and every day for the rest of my life.

Job 36: ¹⁵ But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. ¹⁶ “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.

God uses suffering to woo me from the jaws of distress and into a spacious place of comfort. Suffering is a teachable moment from God. I simply need to hold on to him in my time of need. I simply MUST pray and I simply MUST read something – one verse or an entire book – anything to get my mind focused on things above; because God speaks to me when I am afflicted.

Psalm 10: ¹⁴ But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand.

Psalm 10: ¹⁷ You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry…

God does not turn a blind eye when I am suffering. On the contrary, he sees my trouble, listens to my desire to be healed, considers my grief, and encourages me! God actually takes the time to take into consideration the pain of my heart and my situations in life.

For further study:

Psalm 119: ⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

Psalm 119: ⁷¹ It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Psalm 119: ⁷⁵ I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Psalm 119: ⁹² If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

Isaiah 48: ¹⁰ See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Job 23:10-11 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept his way without turning aside.