God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

 

God Allows Suffering

 

God allows suffering in the lives of His children. Things do not randomly happen in the life of a believer. Many times it is not God directly causing the problems or suffering in our lives. But we can be encouraged that God allows it, and He has a purpose for doing so.

God has desires in His heart for you. And He has spiritual goals for you and your life. More than anything God wants close fellowship with you, and for you to enjoy intimacy with God. 

Another of God’s spiritual goals is to make you the very best you can be. Which is for you to be like Jesus. A person of godly character, and of increasing glory and honor.

God also want you to join Him in His kingdom work and mission. God’s work and mission involves reaching lost people, and helping others to grow to become faithful disciples.  God uses the difficulties and even the suffering we encounter in life to fulfill these desires and goals He has for you.

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

God Turns Suffering Into Good – To Bring You Closer To Him

 

You are God’s first love, and He loves you more than anything else He has created. And God wants this kind of love in return, because He is relationship oriented. He wants to be your First Love.

And you are God’s treasure. More special, precious, important, and valuable to God than anything else He has created. Now He wants to be your Treasure. God wants to be more valuable, special, precious, and valuable to you than anyone or anything else.

And you are God’s passion. He passionately loves you, and He is passionate to have close fellowship with you. Now God wants you to be passionate about Him. And passionate about the things He is passionate about.

I Corinthians 1:9 – “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our LORD.” 

Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you. ”

Proverbs 21:21 – “He who pursues righteousness and loyalty finds life, righteousness and honor.”

Revelation 2:4-5 – “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place– unless you repent.”

 

God Uses Suffering To Transform You And Bring You To Oneness With Him

God uses suffering and difficulties in your life to mold and shape you. And in order to have close fellowship and intimacy with God, you need to fully surrender to Him and be one with God. Being one with God means that you want and submit to God’s will  and not your own. And you submit to and pursue God’s plans and not your own. And you submit to God and let Him fill your heart with His interests, desires, and priorities for your life.

Luke 9:23 – “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

Luke 22:42 – “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

 

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

More Scriptures About Being One With God

John 14:21-24- “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, ” If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

John 17:9-11, 20-21 – “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word. That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Galatians 2:20 – ” have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

God Uses Suffering To Mold & Shape You To Be Like Jesus

God loves you and wants the very best for you. This does not mean that He wants the best material things for you. Or the easiest life possible. God wants you to BE the very best you can be.

God wants to you to more and more like Jesus. First God uses His word to accomplish this. And He pours out His grace  to accomplish this. And when necessary God will use suffering and trials in your life to accomplish this.God wants you to be like Jesus, and to have the love and devotion for God that Jesus demonstrated in His brief life here on earth.

God wants you to have Jesus’ godly character. And He wants you to share in Jesus’ holiness and purity. And He wants you to be a person of honor and glory. God uses suffering and the difficulties and trials in your life to bring you to the point where He can fill you with His glory. And He wants to fill you with the spiritual fruits and riches that He wants for you.

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

Scriptures About How God Wants To Mold & Shape You

Romans 8:28-29 – “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined (“planned from the beginning”) to become conformed to the image of His Son.

Romans 12:1-2 – “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – As Training In Righteousness

God wants to bring you into close fellowship with Him. He also wants you to be like Jesus. And God wants you to be completely one with Him. Which means that He wants your heart to be the same as His. And He wants you to have the same desires, interests, priorities, and passions as He has.

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

 

 

These are some of the tools that God will use in your life to reach His desired goals for you.

 

1. God’s Word (A Love Letter From God)

One of God’s main tools that He uses to transform you to be closer to Him , one with Him, and more like Jesus is His word. If people paid closer attention to God and His word in their life, perhaps God would not need to use the other tools to accomplish His goals.

Too many Christians are not spending enough time in God’s word, prayer, and fellowship with God. There are many disastrous results from this, and from too many people not being fully committed and surrendered to God. Not paying enough attention to God and Hos word is spiritually disastrous for a Christian.

“All Scripture is God-breathed (inspired by God) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (be fruitful for God and His kingdom). – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

“Oh, that you had heeded My commandments ! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”  – Isaiah 48:18

” Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways ! I would soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.But he would have also fed them with the finest of the wheat. I will satisfy you with honey out of the rock.” – Psalm 81:13-16

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

2. God’s Discipline – Punishment

 

Many of God’s people do not pay attention to their relationship and fellowship with God, and to God’s word. And many of God’s people do not passionately seek Him. If His people will not pay attention to God and His word, then God will resort to other ways and tools to get people’s attention.

God has throughout history used discipline and punishment when forced to in order to get people’s attention. And to bring His people to the point of repentance and transformation. This tool is not God’s first choice, but He will definitely resort to it if need be.

”The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done – they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem. They turned their backs to me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen (to God’s Word) or respond to discipline.” – Jeremiah 32:32-42

(Israel was eventually conquered by the Babylonians as a result, but God eventually brought them back to Him)

 

More About God’s Discipline & Punishment

 

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline: God is treating you as sons. … God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12:5-11

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. – Deuteronomy 8:2-5

The 40 years in the wilderness could have been avoided. If only God’s people had only paid more attention to God and His word. And if only they had trusted God’s promises about how He would give them the promised land and defeat all of their enemies. But they didn’t, and they rebelled against God. And it cost them dearly. This serves as a good example for us.

 

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

 

3. God’s Discipline – Purifying, Pruning, Molding, Shaping

There is another tool that God uses to accomplish His goals for His children. To become more like Christ, you and I have to be transformed in many ways. Naturally our hearts and desires are not the same as Jesus’. Our interests, priorities, and passions are naturally very different than Jesus’. And our will is typically not the same as God’s will.

This form of discipline that God uses at times in our lives is not punishment for sins. It is a refining and purifying of our hearts and character. It is under the pressure of difficulties and suffering that God brings about the necessary changes and transformations in us.

This form of God’s discipline can seem very unfair. It can even seem like God has abandoned you and left you alone to suffer. It can even feel cruel at times for God to allow this in your life. But feelings and emotions are very often misleading, especially during times of suffering and trials.

 

Examples Of God’s Molding & Shaping Type Of Discipline

 

There are some good examples for us to learn from in God’s word. All of these went through years of trials, difficulties, and waiting for God to accomplish His purposes. These were times of molding, shaping, and purifying that God allowed in order to prepare these people for the purpose that God had for their lives.

Joseph – 13 years – Joseph endured the pain and humiliation of being sold as a slave by his brothers. And he endured being falsely accused and thrown into prison for years. It all started when Joseph was 17, and he didn’t get out of it until he was 30. But he exited this long period of suffering and trials as a different person. One that God could use to sustain and preserve His people through a terrible famine.

David – 17 years – We all know David as a great king of Israel, and a prophet. David was ordained by God to take over being the king of Israel for Saul. From the time David was ordained by God until the time he became king was a period of many years. And David went through many trials and difficulties during this time. He was constantly fleeing from King Saul, who wanted to kill him. And he had other enemies who wanted to do the same. David exited this long period of difficulties as a “man after God’s own heart”.

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

 

More Examples Of How God Turns Suffering Into Good

 

Abraham – 25 years – Abraham had the faith in God to leave his homeland and go wherever God lead him. At one point he and Sarah had to go to Egypt because of a famine. Abraham’s character and faith in God had not been fully developed yet. So when they went to Egypt he lied to Pharaoh about his beautiful wife Sarah and said she was his sister. He thought he had to do this in order to be safe.

Abraham had to wait 25 years until God’s promise of a child. He was 75 when God promised him a son, and that his heirs would be countless and would be a holy nation. A nation and people that would be where the promised Messiah would come out of and bless all other nations. But Abraham and Sarah got impatient, and they came up with a scheme to help God out. Abraham had a child, Ishmael, through Sarah’s servant Hagar. From then on the descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs, have been a huge problem for Israel.

Abraham and Sarah finally had their promised child, Isaac, after 25 years of waiting. Over the years God molded and shaped Abraham, and developed a strong faith in him, and a godly character. You can see how God is so patient with us.

Moses – 40 years – another good example. Moses spent 40 years living in the wilderness as God molded him to be the person He could use to lead God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. That is a long time to be in the wilderness. Moses turned out to be a faithful servant of God that God used mightily.

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

God Turns Suffering Into Good – To Transform Our Character

 

Each of the above examples went through years of training and purifying and molding by God. Often times by trials and hardship, until they became the faithful servants of God that God had in mind. And had the godly character that God intended for them to have.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes (disciplines/ molds/ shapes) it so that it may bear more fruit.” – John 15:1-2

” Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.” – I Peter 4:1-2

“Bless our God, O peoples, and sound His praise abroad. Who keeps us in life. And does not allow our feet to slip. For You have tried us, O God. You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net, and laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. And You made men ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.” – Psalm 66:8-12

 

God Turns Suffering Into Good – God Is Always Faithful

Do Not Lose Heart & Get Discouraged

 

If you are going through difficulties and suffering now, do not lose heart. And do not get discouraged. God turns suffering into good.

It is easier to say that than do it. I know. But God is at work in you during your times of difficulty and suffering. He is always working out what is best for you. And for you to be the best person you can be, which is to be like Jesus. And for you to be a faithful servant and friend of His.

“But who can endure the day of His coming ? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.” – Malachi 3:2-3

” Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it’s work so that you may be mature and complete (like Christ), not lacking anything. – James 1:1-4

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. … while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful.” – John 15:1,2b

 

God always prepares the people that He has called to be used in His great kingdom work and mission. The best thing to do during times of difficulty and suffering is to humble yourself. And fully surrender all you are and all you have to God. And decide in your heart that you will remain fully committed to God, no matter what. This is difficult for many people to do. But I can assure you God will be able to accomplish all He has planned in and through you if you do.

 

 

Continue Growing Closer to God

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The goal isn’t simply to learn more about God.

The goal is to know God personally, love Him deeply, hear His voice, walk with Him daily, and experience a growing intimacy with Him.