On Purpose
I have been working through parts of Job, learning from that mighty book as part of a series about “When Life Hurts.” In my reading, I was blessed by this reminder from Ray Stedman:
The book of Job teaches us a difficult truth about suffering: Sometimes we suffer because our affliction accomplishes God’s purposes. This principle always seems to catch us by surprise, even though it should be obvious to us all. After all, the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that God allows the innocent to suffer in order to achieve His purposes. The most innocent man to ever live was Jesus of Nazareth. He suffered and died on the cross not because He was an evildoer, not because He deserved to suffer, but because He was carrying out God’s purpose in the world.
Job teaches us that suffering is a means by which Satan is silenced and God is vindicated. It’s a high and holy privilege to uphold the glory of God against the accusations of the devil. If we will learn to see our sufferings in light of the spiritual war that has been raging since before the creation of the human race, it will transform our lives and our pain. It will awaken us to the high and holy privilege of (as Paul says in Philippians 3:10) sharing in the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ.
– Ray Stedman, Let God Be God
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