May 19, 2024

Psalm 119.71 (NIV)
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

A season of suffering is a small price to pay for a clear view of God.*

While still in high school, my twin sons started dating the young ladies who eventually become their wives. One of these couples did not live happily ever after - one son’s wife left him for a young man that my son thought was his friend. Meanwhile, another couple they knew from college was splitting up. The husband - a youth minister - left his wife for a girl in his youth group! Long story short: God brought my son and this young lady together and now I am proud to call her my daughter. Recently she shared on Facebook how her trials had refined her. She said, “I don't think I ever would have ‘gotten it’ if God had not stripped so much from me.”

Does God strip things from us or does he just allow it to happen? We aren’t Job – God’s object lesson! Many of our afflictions are the results of our own poor choices; others are the result of someone else’s. Some of our choices are made out of rebellion, others out of ignorance. Life is full of pivotal moments where the only control we have is over what we decide to do – not over what happens as a result. This was brought home to me by my attorney during my own divorce as we were discussing my soon-to-be ex-husband’s visitation schedule with the boys. I was still pretty bitter and was all for cutting him out of their lives completely (though I couldn’t, legally) but my lawyer reminded me, “You chose him to be the father of your children.” She was right. I had made the choice though I had no idea how it would turn out.

Beware! Not everyone benefits from affliction. What sets apart those who learn submission through adversity from those who don’t? The psalmist doesn’t mention it here but other passages point to a surrendered heart that chooses the right attitude. We, like Job, may experience the benefits of suffering without ever knowing why we suffered in the first place* but, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”  (James 1.2)

Suffering is inevitable, misery is optional!*