Suffering: October 2010
Table of Contents
Suffering
Suffering came into the creation through sin. When the coming eternal day of God and glory begins, sin and suffering will be over forever. Then, the only physical evidence that sin ever existed will be the marks in the body of our Lord Jesus. Presently “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together.”
It is well to remember that the foundation of all our blessings was laid by suffering, the suffering of Christ. In Peter’s short, first epistle, he speaks of suffering sixteen times and seven of them refer to the sufferings of our Lord.
While it is not natural to want to suffer, God is using even what sin has caused to work for our good. God has promised us that He makes all things work together for good; those “all things” include suffering. Only in suffering are we in the circumstances needed to learn to know our God as the God of all comfort.
When we suffer, we may say or think about someone who seeks to comfort us, You don’t understand what I’m going through, and that might be correct. But we can never truly say that about the captain of our salvation, made perfect through sufferings. He is now our perfect High Priest and comforter. At all times, His invitation to us is, “Come unto Me ... and I will give you rest.”
Affliction in Psalm 119
Psalm 119 is perhaps best known for its numerous references to––and varied designations of––the Word of God. It breathes the language of the Jewish remnant in a coming day when the law is written in their hearts, which is one of the components of the new covenant, as distinct from the old covenant which was written on tables of stone (Jer. 31:33).
With this acknowledged, it is interesting, then, that we find the thought of affliction mentioned seven times in this psalm. Suffering is taken up in many different aspects in Scripture and for varied purposes ordered by our God. If we consider affliction in light of the character of this particular psalm, it would impress upon us the importance and relevance of the Word of God in our lives during times of definite trial. It is in this context that we would consider the psalmist’s reflections. Further, there is growth in the soul as we move from one mention of affliction to the next.
Comfort Not Extrication
“This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy word hath quickened me” (vs. 50).
Often when trials come, our first reaction is either to try to extricate ourselves out of the trial altogether, or, at least, to seek some lessening of the trial. In contrast to this attitude, the psalmist found the Word of God to be a comfort and refreshment to his spirit. He says nothing about the help of man or the promise of deliverance, but talks about what the Word of God meant to him in his affliction. Have we found the Word of God to be a comfort to our souls in times of trial? This was just the beginning of the Lord’s working with him in the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10).
The Outcome
“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy word” (vs. 67).
The psalmist now moves beyond speaking of comfort received through the Scriptures in his suffering, and he acknowledges that there was a course of departure from the Lord before the affliction came. One immediate outcome of affliction is that we should return to the Lord if we have strayed from Him, even if only inwardly. More than this, the Word of God, which previously did not have control over him, now is treasured in the soul and kept. The Word of God cherished in the affections will preserve us from a path that leads us away from the Lord.
For Our Good
“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes” (vs. 71).
We often quote the scripture that tells us that “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28), but faith must be in activity for us to speak of that which is unpleasant, trying and sorrowful as being “good,” or for our good. The reason the psalmist could speak of affliction in this way was that through the trial he learned the Lord’s statutes. We are familiar with academic learning, as from a textbook, but to learn experimentally what meets with the Lord’s approval requires our drawing near to Him to learn from Him.
Right Judgments
“I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me” (vs. 75).
The psalmist continues to grow in his soul. From finding relief in affliction, then experiencing restoration and instruction as a result of affliction, he now recognizes the Lord’s righteous character in afflicting him. He has come to the point where he sees things as the Lord sees them. He realizes that the affliction was necessary for him, based on what he has come to know of the Lord. This goes beyond what he felt his needs to be, but rather brings in what the Lord’s character required of His servant.
Preservation
“Unless Thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished in my affliction” (vs. 92).
Now, in reflection, the psalmist recognized the extremity of the trial he was in, and that only by finding his delight in the law of the Lord was he preserved in the pathway of faith. How great has been his progress! The Word now eclipses the trial. The Word providing relief, then learned and treasured in the soul, led him to understand God’s thoughts and the rightness of God’s ways, and it has now become his delight, such as the blessed man of Psalm 1. How high a portion to “joy in God” (Rom. 5:11) and delight in His Word.
Quickening
“I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto Thy word” (vs. 107).
The affliction now deepens, yet the Lord will not test us above what we are able to bear (1 Cor. 10:13). Drawing on what he first experienced in time of trial, the psalmist now cries directly to the Lord for that same quickening. He knows where relief is to be found; it is not a matter of learning this. He knows the source of comfort and that even this deep trial is not beyond the Lord’s ability to help.
Deliverance
“Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget Thy law” (vs. 153).
We might wonder where progress is evident as we come to this last mention of affliction. At first glance, it seems to take lower ground than even the first exercise, for here we find the sufferer is requesting deliverance from the trial itself, rather than seeking some spiritual gain through the trial. Yet we must not read too quickly, for the last clause of the verse seems to give a clue as to the basis from which he expresses his request.
In 1 John 2, we read of fathers, young men and little children. In verse 13 we read of what characterizes each group. In verses 14-27, specific instruction is given for each group based on their spiritual growth. The word of instruction to the fathers is simply a restatement of their character. Christ is everything to them, and no further instruction is needed. Similarly, the psalmist has not forgotten the law of the Lord. It has become his delight, his sole resource. He has learned through trial what the Lord desired for him. All that awaits is his ultimate deliverance. As we sometimes sing, “And when we’ve learned our lesson, our work in suffering done, our ever-loving Father will welcome every one.” The time of affliction will soon be past. The time for lessons to be learned will one day be over in a moment. May we then learn, through and in the varied afflictions of life, an increased appreciation of the Word of God that will lead us into deeper fellowship with our Lord that we would not otherwise know.
W. Brockmeier
Divine Purposes in Human Suffering
Scripture presents suffering as fulfilling at least six separate purposes.
(1) In the case of the Egyptians, first of all, it is inflicted as punishment for sin — the oppression of Israel.
(2) In the history of David, we read that before he was afflicted, he went astray; through suffering (chastising) he learned to be obedient to the Word of God.
(3) In Job is found the record of God’s loving-kindness in His dealings with the patient patriarch even from his earliest days, and yet Job is brought to confess, in spite of all that God had been to him, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” His deliverance from himself is at length accomplished through his sufferings, and even more abundant blessing marks the close of his history.
(4) In telling about a remarkable experience in his life, the Apostle Paul tells us, with unmistakable plainness, that the thorn in the flesh was sent for the express purpose of preventing self-exaltation, and thus suffering wrought in the prevention of sin.
(5) In Hebrews 2:10 we read that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through sufferings, sufferings that were preparation for His work and necessary accompaniments thereof.
Suffering As a Gift
(6) Finally, in some incidents in the life of the Philippians, we find suffering in the character of a divine gift or privilege. Christ’s mystic body, like her all-glorious Head, is destined to suffering on earth preparatory to the everlasting reign of the Lord’s Anointed, and so she suffers in those of her members endowed with the gracious gift.
Among the many good and perfect gifts bestowed by the bounty of our liberal giving God, this is the one less frequently imparted, perhaps, than all others, for though it be morally best of all, who covets this gift earnestly? There are few who can exercise it to the great Giver’s worthy praise. It is not the eloquent and persuasive tongue that convinces the conscience and touches the heart, which brings repentant sinners in living faith to God, and then builds them up in their most holy faith. It is not the out-breathing of the poetic soul in fine eloquence kindling earnest thought into energetic action. It is not the mysterious power in the great organizers of victory, that leads warrior hosts to heroic deeds of self-sacrifice, nor is it any other gift or might that wins worldwide renown and amplitude of fortune. No, indeed, it is none of these gifts, nor anything in the least degree resembling any of them, for they, upon whom the heavenly boon referred to is bestowed, get none of the rewards men love to lavish upon those whom they delight to honor.
But the sufferers for His dear sake, though their sufferings and themselves be alike unknown to their fellows, have already His approving smile consciously, and in due time they shall have His great reward—His who trod so valiantly the path they now pursue. To all such is written, “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Yea, “if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” The gracious gift of suffering is as distinct and specific a gift as that of healing or of tongues or any other of God’s natural gifts that win honor and renown as well as more substantial rewards. But this gift transforms the blessed recipient more surely perhaps than all the others into resemblance to Himself and is, for this fellowship, the highest, greatest, noblest of them all.
Bible Treasury, N5:348, adapted
Suffering As a Christian
We have read elsewhere in this issue that suffering is the promised lot of the Christian in this world. His citizenship and hopes are heavenly, and while down here, he suffers because he follows a rejected Christ.
There are different kinds of suffering through which the believer may be called to pass. The believer suffers because he is part of a groaning creation that is still under sin. As such, he experiences mental and physical illnesses, and all the degenerative diseases that eventually end in death, if the Lord does not come. Likewise, the believer sometimes suffers under the government of God, who may allow difficult circumstances, physical illness, and other trials that are meant to speak to him about something in his life. It is not my purpose to speak about either one of these in this article.
However, the believer may also suffer because he belongs to Christ, and I would suggest that there are at least three ways in which the believer suffers, related to his association with a rejected Christ.
For Righteousness
First of all, the believer today suffers “for righteousness’ sake.” The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:10). Later, Peter tells us, “If ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye” (1 Peter 3:14). We live in an unrighteous world, and since it has rejected the Lord Jesus, Scripture calls Satan both the god and prince of this world. As a result, righteousness suffers in this present age, and sin is rampant. Of the Lord Jesus it was said prophetically, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity” (Heb. 1:9). Since the believer has new life in Christ, he too loves righteousness and suffers when he sees unrighteousness all around him.
As the Lord’s coming draws closer, evil is more and more unchecked. It is tempting to try and set things right, but it is not the time for us to do this. This is the day of God’s grace, and while we are to be living witnesses to this world, we are not to act in judgment or deal with evil. When Christ comes back in judgment, we come with Him, and then will be the time to judge unrighteousness.
Our place is, rather, to be “followers of that which is good” (1 Peter 3:13) and “to be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). We are to display righteousness in our lives, while we wait for the day when God will “judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained” (Acts 17:31).
Suffering for Christ
Second, the believer also suffers for Christ. This is a deeper thing than suffering for righteousness’ sake, for it involves not only a hatred of evil, but also a love for Christ. I may hate unrighteousness without direct reference to Christ, but suffering for Christ brings Him into the picture. Paul could say, “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29). Later, Paul could remind Timothy that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). When Paul (then Saul of Tarsus) was first converted, the Lord told Ananias concerning him, “I will show him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). How many dear believers since then have suffered for Christ, whether in the loss of their goods, imprisonment, bodily harm or even death.
It is the name of Christ that brings the reproach, for this world has cast Him out and does not want His followers. The world likes the results of Christianity, and even an unrighteous world appreciates righteousness in another. But if the name of Christ is brought in, immediately there is reproach, for He is not wanted.
Although we are promised this kind of suffering, it can be very difficult to bear, and as a result, some dear believers have compromised in order to avoid it. Sometimes the compromise takes the form of the actual denial of Christ, such as overtook Peter at the time of the Lord’s crucifixion. At other times, it may take the form of walking with the world to some degree, getting involved in programs that try to improve the world, and perhaps being connected with a religious system that is also caught up in these pursuits. Surely we need grace to be faithful to our Lord and Saviour, who loved us and died for us. The cross of Christ has forever separated us from this world, and bearing His cross also separates me from worldly religion. True Christianity makes everything of Christ and nothing of man, and the world does not want this.
Suffering With Christ
There is one final type of suffering for the believer, that of suffering with Christ. This is again a deeper thing than even suffering for Christ. “If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom. 8:17). A similar expression occurs in 2 Timothy 2:12: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” In Philippians 3:10, Paul speaks of “the fellowship of His sufferings.” Often this kind of suffering is unseen, yet it is perhaps the most precious, for we are identified with Him and His cause in this world. It involves seeing the condition of this world as Christ saw it, and feeling as He did, when He saw the results of sin. All this was not only because of His holiness, but also because of His love. When divine love is operative in our souls, we too will feel in some measure the kind of sorrow He felt and continues to feel. Our blessed Master could weep at the grave of Lazarus when He saw the sorrow and heartache that sin had brought in. He could weep over Jerusalem when they refused all the overtures of God in grace. In the same spirit, Paul could weep over those who walked as “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18).
In our day, suffering with Christ may take many forms. We not only see and feel the condition of this world as Christ does, but we see and feel the condition of the church as He does. When the Word of God is set aside, when the truth of God is given up, when there is indifference to His claims, when there is little evidence of love for Christ, then we suffer, if we are faithful to Christ. We feel for and suffer with other believers who are perhaps in difficult circumstances, even if the circumstances are the result of the government of God. Paul could say to the Corinthians, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” (2 Cor. 11:29). Yet this suffering was for the most part unseen. It is having the heart of a father toward his children, as Paul could allude to in 1 Corinthians 4:15: “Yet have ye not many fathers.”
Coming Glory
All suffering, whether for righteousness’ sake, for Christ, or with Christ, will find its answer in coming glory. In whatever degree we have shared His rejection, we will share His glory in a coming day. More than this, these experiences of suffering down here enable us to know Christ in a way that we can never learn in the glory. Up there, there will be nothing to cause sorrow in any way; it is only down here that we can have the privilege of suffering for and with our blessed Master. Yet the memories of going through it with Him and having the fellowship of His sufferings will remain for all eternity. Perhaps the “hidden manna” (Rev. 2:17) refers to this — the enjoyment of Christ up there in all that He was to us during the wilderness journey, while the “white stone” is His reward for having shared His sufferings. We have such a short time left in which to share in these sufferings. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).
W. J. Prost
The Sympathy of Christ
We have a High Priest who has passed through the heavens — as Aaron through the successive parts of the tabernacle — Jesus, the Son of God. He has, in all things, been tempted like ourselves, sin apart, so that He can sympathize with our infirmities. The Word brings to light the intents of the heart, judges the will, and all that has not God for its object and its source. Then, as far as weakness is concerned, we have His sympathy. Christ, of course, had no evil desires: He was tempted in every way, apart from sin. Sin had no part in it at all. But I do not wish for sympathy with the sin that is in me; I detest it — I wish it to be mortified — judged unsparingly. This the Word does. For my weakness and my difficulties I seek sympathy and I find it in the priesthood of Jesus. It is not necessary, in order to sympathize with me, that a person should feel at the same moment that which I am feeling — rather the contrary. If I am suffering pain, I am not in a condition to think as much of another’s pain. But in order to sympathize with him, I must have a nature capable of appreciating his pain.
Thus it is with Jesus, when exercising His priesthood. He is in every sense beyond the reach of pain and trial, but He is man. And not only has He the human nature which, in time, suffered grief, but He experienced the trials a saint has to go through more fully than any of ourselves, and His heart, free and full of love, can entirely sympathize with us, according to His experience of ill, and according to the glorious liberty which He now has, to provide and care for it. This encourages us to hold fast our profession in spite of the difficulties that beset our path, for Jesus concerns Himself about them, according to His own knowledge and experience of what they are and according to the power of His grace.
The Throne of Grace
Therefore, our High Priest being there, we can go with all boldness to the throne of grace, to find mercy and the grace suited to us in all times of need: mercy, because we are weak and wavering; needful grace, because we are engaged in a warfare which God owns.
Observe, it is not that we go to the High Priest. It is often done, and God may have compassion, but it is a proof that we do not fully understand grace. The Priest, the Lord Jesus, occupies Himself about us, sympathizes with us, on the one hand, and, on the other, we go directly to the throne of grace.
The Book of Hebrews does not here speak positively of falls; we find that in 1 John 2. There, also, it is in connection with communion with His Father; here, with access to God. His purpose here is to strengthen us, to encourage us to persevere in the way, conscious of the sympathies which we possess in heaven, and that the throne is always open to us.
J. N. Darby
Suffering in the Flesh
The will of the flesh is the practical principle of all sin. Will is not obedience to God, and hence it is sin in its very principle, but being the will of the flesh shows itself in the lusts of the flesh. It does not turn towards God, but, on the contrary, turns towards what the flesh desires. The will of the flesh is the acting of the nature at enmity with God’s will. Suffering in the flesh is the opposite of this will or acting of the nature. This is applied both to Christ and to us, but in the case of Christ it is applied to His death. (See 1 Peter 3:18.) Rather than be disobedient in anything, and perfect in obedience, from the divine surrender of all will in Psalm 40 to take the place of obedience, He goes on to death and was obedient while suffering Satan’s power and God’s wrath, rather than not obey. He was perfect in obedience, not sparing the flesh in anything, and died to sin once; that is, He went on to death in its fullest forms, rather than withdraw from doing God’s will or have one of His own. He would die rather than have a will or aught but God’s will. Thus sin found no inlet or place in Him. A piece of fruit served to lead Adam into sin; nothing could lead Christ into it. Not only had He never any sin, but He went through everything that could induce will, and all failed to lead Him into it. He suffered in the flesh. Sin was baffled forever and totally — the whole proof gone through, and nothing served to introduce it. He has thus rested from all further question of sin. He has a divine and eternal sabbath as to it. How blessed! On the earth He had not. He had always victory over it — never let anything but obedience govern His heart, and proved He had a nature contrary to it, on purpose to obey, and nothing else. This was perfection. Between Him and His Father, in the exercise of love in obeying, He had joy, but till He died, had not rest from it.
This has, as a great principle, its application to us. “He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin” is an abstract principle. When the will of my flesh works, I have not ceased from sin, but when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I act entirely and feel entirely in the new nature and the flesh has no will allowed nor a thought belonging to it has entrance, because I am full of what the Spirit gives me and obey in the delight of obedience, though suffering as regards man, in that I have ceased from sin. As sin is in the flesh, it may be in us a question of degree. It is partial, temporary, perhaps, in its realization, but the principle remains ever true, and suffering (that is as far as suffering) in the flesh, sin has no place in me, my thoughts, mind, and moral being. The flesh is not changed, but if I only suffer in it, the flesh in me then has no operation as to will.
Selected from J. N. Darby
Suffering for Christ and Chastening
Hebrews 12:1-13
When we look at Jesus as a Man in glory, we see one who has arrived at the end of the course. He has run the whole course of faith, gone through every trial of it; He has begun and finished it. You never can find yourself in any place of trial, where a believer can be found, that Christ has not been in it. He has trod the whole path and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. There is where the road leads, so do not give up the cross. Jesus has borne it and has sat down there — it is worth running for. He came in divine love, but He walked in the path in which we have to walk with all the motives which sustain and cheer us. He had before Him the joy of being before God in that blessed place. What comfort in the path of difficulty and trial, to see that He has trodden it all and was sustained in it all in the very way we are!
Suffering and Chastening
All along the way as we pass towards the rest in glory, God is exercising our hearts to make us partakers of His holiness. These exercises have a double character: “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4). Here we have two principles which only the Spirit of God could connect: first, resisting unto blood, in which would be suffering for Christ; second, at the same time suffering in conflict against sin, and by which it is practically judged in us. God connects our striving against sin with suffering for Christ; resisting unto blood is dying for Christ, but as this is in the conflict with sin, it cannot be truly carried on when the principle of sin and our own will is active in us. Hence this same suffering serves as discipline, and so in the next verse it is added, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord.” Who would think of God’s chastening us at the very time we were suffering for Christ? But so it is, for self is so subtle; it mixes itself up even with suffering for Christ and hinders our service, and we may fear even to dishonor rather than to serve Him. We are apt to get discouraged when we have to judge ourselves in the midst of conflict, and even may be tempted to sit down and do nothing at all. The judgment of self is right, but not the discouragement. Suppose I am serving Christ and that I get discouraged in the warfare. Why is this? Confidence in my own misuse of power — lack of faith in God’s doing His work. Now what is God doing? God is using discouragement to exercise me to judge self. There is not a step of our lives that is not part of the process in which God is dealing with us. It is a process to break down flesh so as to make me depend on the salvation of God. After this deliverance, it is a system of experiences to exercise me to walk with God. The question of deliverance never arises again, but there is a quantity of things to be judged that I may enjoy communion with God.
Moses
In Moses we have an example of these two things; he was suffering for Christ and suffering for his flesh too, at the same time. The Spirit of God tells us of the bright path of faith in which he was walking when he came among the children of Israel (Heb. 11:24-26), yet the flesh accompanies him, and with a mixture of human energy, nourished by the position he had been in, he slays the Egyptian. God surely allowed this that the breach might be complete, but Moses then fears the wrath of the king. In his actions he looks this way and that way, and when it is known, he flees. He was, in the main, suffering for Christ — bearing the reproach of Christ most blessedly, but much had to be purged out and subdued in him, and if he had to flee because he had identified himself with the people of God, he had to go through that forty years’ discipline to wean him from all confidence in human strength. When that is gone, we see how little courage flesh can have in the presence of difficulty. Now, though flesh had indeed shown its weakness, he can be a god unto Pharaoh.
Paul
In Paul, too, we see the same thing. A thorn in the flesh is given him, lest he should be exalted above measure. We see in him the action of devotedness in the divine life, and the action of the flesh kept down by that which would make him despicable in his preaching. (See Galatians 4:13-14.) When the Apostle thus suffered, felt the thorn, he was really suffering for Christ, yet it was needful for keeping down the flesh. This is the effect of that wondrous grace which employs those who have yet to learn for themselves, as vessels of divine glory and truth to teach others. The vessel must be dealt with, as well as employed. God, in a certain sense, having given occasion to Paul’s danger of self-exaltation by the abundance of revelation granted to him, secures him from the danger.
How precious is this constant care of God! He is always looking after us. The Hebrews were getting worldly, and persecution comes. It is suffering for Christ, and yet for sin. And the hand of God is there to give through it all senses exercised to discern good and evil. The work is going on, though I do not know all that is going on until afterwards. When the work is done, I become more spiritual and am then able to see what God was doing all the while. His own work He will carry on for His own glory. The chastening is not always for transgression, but if not, it is for the principle that produces transgression or that could produce it.
Girdle of Truth, 3:393, adapted
Suffering and Trusting
Daniel 3
In Daniel 3 we have a picture of the spirit and character in which the godly pass through their trials. It is not to the character of their trials so much as to the spirit of the thing that I desire briefly to call attention. Previously in Israel, God showed forth His mighty power in temporal deliverances, as in the case of Pharaoh, but with us, it is different. We are spiritually delivered; we are waiting for God’s Son from heaven. Those who are faithful to God always have been a suffering people. Obedience and reliance on God characterize His people at all times.
We find here that, besides the love of power, man uses religion to unite and band together, to oblige conformity to the king’s word, for men use religion to sway and influence others to gain their own selfish ends. This we find here in full development. The king who wielded God’s power and in whose hand God put it did not use it on God’s part. Instead of using it in serving God, he sets up an image and commands all men to worship it. What do we find as the result? God’s people abstain from the idolatry in the character of the remnant. They will not submit, nor do they. Of course, this is seen as a great crime, upsetting the whole thing. Then comes persecution, and to that they do submit.
God’s Power
However God might allow His people to suffer, nothing ought to alter their reliance on Himself. Faith was as simple a thing in Babylon as in Jerusalem. God is the God of heaven and earth at all times, and none can hinder His power or the exercise of it in grace towards His people. He may allow them to be in trial — He may not always give outward deliverance, but patience is always the same, and the ground of confidence. If the circumstances of trial are different, the Lord’s power of interfering is always the same. Circumstances never hinder that a bit. The outward trial may conceal God’s power from our eyes, but He is always the same. I doubt not in this day many a heart is feeling discouraged and ready to say, “Who will show us any good?” The answer follows: “Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us!” And what could you get more? What is better or mightier than the light of God’s countenance? However sorrowful we may be about things, that is not to weaken our confidence in God. It was when all seemed hopeless in Israel that “Immanuel” was found among them, and however hopeless the condition of God’s people may seem when a false god is set up, God remains the same.
The Faithful Sufferers
Notice the perfect power of the king and the perfect patience of these faithful sufferers. If they had resisted the power, it would have been over with them in a moment, as they would then have taken it out of God’s hand. But now they change the king’s word by their patience. If they had opposed Nebuchadnezzar, it would have been all over, for God gave the king his power, but they submitted, and therefore God could deliver them.
What is the effect of these faithful ones being in the trial? The identification of their names with God, as He was called the God of Abraham. “Whoever shall speak [a word] against the God of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego.” What a blessed thing to be thus associated with God, having His name associated with theirs, and how blessed the identification of the saints with the God who is not ashamed to be called their God! It was by nonresistance that they reached this glory, by bowing to the power and will of God, although evil, as regards the exercise of it, was in the king’s hand. If we take a humble, low place of suffering under power, we shall find God’s power put forth to deliver. We see here what quietness and peace of heart they have, whether it be in refusing to worship, suffering the furnace, or coming out with honor, and it is sure to bring the blessed reward of ever having God’s name identified with ours. The God whom we have known as our God and whom we have cleaved to in trial down here, and He to us, is the same whose name attaches itself to us in the glory.
Girdle of Truth, 5:340, adapted
Future Glory Outweighs Present Suffering
Romans 8:18-27
It is comforting and instructive to notice the way in which the expected glory utterly outweighed the sufferings in the mind of the Apostle. It is not that he did not suffer — we must suffer, and sufferings are not pleasant, but suffering is soon over! “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). It is not merely that he knows he will then get rest and glory, but what a sense of the glory he has now — the glory that will be displayed in the manifestation of the sons of God! It is “the glory which shall be revealed in us” — our glory and yet God’s glory. “If so be we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom. 8:17). If ours is the suffering, it is also in respect of ourselves the glory is to be revealed. While Christ (the Son) reflects the glory of the Father, the woman (the church) reflects the glory of the man. Then there is the sense too, by the power of the Holy Spirit, of its belonging to us — that it is really our own. If a man has the sense of its being his, there will not be the turning his back on what he knows to be his own, but the getting towards it as fast as possible. If his heart is in that state, filled with the Holy Spirit, he will pass on through the world, as an angel would pass through it. Do you think, if Gabriel were sent on a message into this world, he would desire to stop here? No, he could not stay where all is defiled.
But it is a much higher principle we enjoy than can be enjoyed by an angel, and so there never can come out of an angel’s heart the same song of praise that comes from the believer’s heart. Though it has been remarked that the angels are never said in Scripture to sing, they are said “to speak,” “to say” and “to talk.” There could be no harmony in an angel’s song compared with ours, their hearts not being exercised with trials like ours. Never having sinned, they cannot know what the joy of salvation is or what it is to be strengthened when weak, or lifted up when failing, or comforted in suffering. They laud and praise and bless God, but they cannot know the new song that those sing who passed through it all. The four living creatures rest not day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,” but their subject is creation — “for Thou hast created all things; and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created” (Rev. 4:11). But in Revelation 5 it is redemption: ”They sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy ... Thou hast redeemed us.”
The Glory of the Cross
Paul had suffered much, but it only brought the glory the brighter before him and shows how the glory of the cross filled his soul. The words “this present time” are striking. The glory is so present, that he calls the suffering but momentary — ”our light affliction, which is but for a moment.” If you talk to one about this present evil world and his mind realizes eternity, you find that eternity is too big to allow room for anything else. We never realize eternity till we fill it with the Father’s love and Christ’s glory. If we think of it otherwise, we look into only a mere vacuum. We are confounded on the one hand and filled with glory on the other. Finding ourselves in the glory of God, we hardly know how to grasp it — ”a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” It is not to become proud with the “glory which shall be revealed in us”; it is not a change of time, but the glory is present to his mind, and he realizes the glory. Then he opens it out doctrinally: “I reckon” — not “we teach” — ”that the sufferings of this present time” — the present sufferings had lost their hindering power, because he saw the power of God in them and endured afflictions according to the power of God. The great thing is to get the heart into conscious association with this fair scene. If we have our hearts always occupied with Christ and glory, there will be such a sense of it that we shall be always there.
It is amazing how the soul becomes soft when happy in the Lord! How it removes all roughness! Saints cannot quarrel about being happy in the Lord, though they may quarrel about doctrine or discipline. We ought all to look onward and have the heart filled with the glory. The effect of this is to put us into suffering, though we can say it is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. It is not the divine, essential glory, of course, but the manifested glory, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. God has children, and He must display His sons in His glory. It is not till then that the creature is introduced into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.
The Groaning Creation
“The whole creation groaneth.” What an amazing difference! He is speaking of “the weight of glory” which shall be revealed in us, and then at once turns and says, What a groaning creation I am in! It is his realizing the glory that fits him to enter into the sorrow of the groaning creation around. Christ, coming in glory, lifts him above it all. The groaning goes beyond the saints — the whole creation groans. If I have the Holy Spirit, I may be full of joy and full of hope, but this does not hinder my groaning as a creature. The more I joy, the more I feel this wretched body is an earthen vessel that cannot hold the treasure.
There is no groaning in my connection with God; it is all rejoicing, and nothing else, in that respect. “Rejoice in the Lord alway.” The moment I get my mind filled with the thought, “I am to be conformed to Christ as He is in glory,” it associates me with Him now. The thought of His coming makes me happy. There is no hope but that of being conformed to Christ. Death is not a hope. “Our conversation is in heaven,” and there we hope to be. My hope is to be with Him in heaven, bodily. I have all for my soul now in Christ.
His Hopes
It is wonderful how God has artfully introduced Himself into everything, filling us with His hopes, His sorrows and His affections. How thoroughly He is come in to possess man’s soul! It is God’s love outside us, and His love is shed abroad in our hearts. We dwell in God, and God in us. He has given us His thoughts and feelings, so that we are wrapped up in God, “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.” God’s love! If it is not His love, it is of no use; if it is not in me, it has no reality. Scripture sometimes speaks as if it was of us, and at other times as of God. Thus it is my heart groans, while it is said, “The Spirit ... maketh intercession.” It is a great comfort to know they are not selfish groans in me. Selfish groans we find in Romans 7, but Romans 8 is full of Christ and of the Spirit.
W. Kelly, adapted
Purging the Branch
The Father’s hand is upon His own — ever in love — to increase their fruitfulness: “Every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” Purging is oftentimes painful and grievous, and we are prone to miss the divine mind as to it when experiencing it, but love orders all for the divine glory and the soul’s welfare. Things spring up in us and quietly develop and grow, of which, perhaps, we are but little conscious, but which, nevertheless, would seriously retard our progress in moral conformity to Christ’s image, if permitted to go on. We are under the care of the Husbandman. The saints are God’s husbandry (1 Cor. 3:9), and the pruning knife is graciously applied in love. Precious dealings! needed because of the deceitfulness of the heart while passing through this present scene.
W. W. Fereday,
Bible Treasury, 20:150
Suffering in Fellowship or by Discipline
Have you known fellowship in suffering with Christ? known deep waters? You will have to go down to them. If you do not get sorrow in fellowship with Christ, you will get it in discipline.
G. V. Wigram
Grace in Suffering
What grace, O Lord, and beauty shone
Around Thy steps below!
What patient love was seen in all
Thy life and death of woe!
Forever on Thy burdened heart
A weight of sorrow hung;
Yet no ungentle, murmuring word
Escaped Thy silent tongue.
Thy foes might hate, despise, revile;
Thy friends unfaithful prove;
Unwearied in forgiveness still,
Thy heart could only love.
Oh give us hearts to love like Thee —
Like Thee, O Lord, to grieve
Far more for others’ sins, than all
The wrongs that we receive.
One with Thyself, may every eye
In us, Thy brethren, see
That gentleness and grace that spring
From union, Lord, with Thee.