Suffering has become some kind of a thing that we will face. For some it may be once a week, once a month, but for more than a few it can be something that he/she/they should face every day. So, has God left us and let us suffer? Definitely no. God has given us an example, that He, the greatest of all the kings, has to face a suffering as well.
Matthew 16:21
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
He said it Himself that He has to be sacrificed, He has to face the suffering, only to win against death and be raised to life again on the third day.
Matthew 16:22-23
22 Peter took him aside and begain to rebuke him: “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you1″ 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter,” Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
After He predicted His death, Peter, who in this verse ‘acted as a Satan’ being told by God that he doesn’t have the mind of God, he doesn’t know what will happen and what is to come. The suffering will only last for a while and what will come after that is far more than the suffering itself.
John 16:21
A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come, but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
This verse really pictured what is being told before. We will face suffering, we will suffer – even in God – why? Because what will come after that, the happiness – the rewards will make facing the suffering worth it and we will smile in the end, thanking God. Just like a woman who is pregnant for 7,8,9 or even 10 months, the suffering is incredible but when she saw the face of her own flesh, she will be smiling and became happy exactly from that moment on.
John 9:1-3
1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus,” but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Sometimes we think that we are suffering every day because we have sinned, we did some things that we aren’t proud of, we acted against God’s will. Yes, maybe we have did that, but don’t put every suffering in one big box of an aftermath of your sin. Like this verse, it’s neither the blind man or his parents’ sin that he suffered through the blindness. It’s because God will work and make a miracle in his life. (And yes He did as the blind man was healed with just a mud that being put in his eyes by God – John 9:6-7)
Hebrews 2:18
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted
Experience always help, and if we have beaten the suffering over and over again, we can always be strong for others who are suffering. We can make changes in people’s life, not necessarily healing people’s pain but through our testimony, through our experience. Be blessed, and always, be thankful!
This is a summary from Handoyo Santoso service from Gereja Kemah Tabernakel – 29th January 2012