Who Do You Say? Reading With the People of God #19নমুনা

Hope in Suffering

In the 3rd chapter, Job laments he was ever born. He has suffered such loss – financial ruin, the death of his children, and physical suffering. Job’s bitter lament is raw and honest. The reader is sympathetic to Job as suffering is part of our lot in life for our existence was cursed by The Fall.

When I search the bible about suffering, I get amazed by the apostolic witness! Several times Paul rejoices in his sufferings for Christ declaring, in Philippians 3, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death.” (ESV) In 2 Corinthians, Paul relates how he could not shake a thorn in his flesh. After praying repeatedly about this thorn, the Lord answered: “'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Cor. 12:9a ESV)

In Job’s case, he did not turn away from God but sought Him earnestly seeking to understand why he was suffering. God does answer him, not according to Job’s request, but according to what he needed to learn.

Our hope is that when our time of suffering comes, as it inevitably will, that we will not dwell long in the dungeon of despair but will remember who we are, who we belong to, and where we are headed. For if we are in Christ, we have the Counselor dwelling within us, and He will bear us up and lead us out of that dungeon and into His marvelous light.

1 John 3:2 "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears [a] we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies Himself as He is pure." English Standard Version (ESV)

Wow! What a promise! What a prize! An exhortation to persevere, to walk with Christ, through all the struggles of life, believing that it is not a constant cycle of trouble but we are in a moment of history, one that God has orchestrated from the beginning, and it will have an end – the Eschaton – the End of Time.

This wonderful promise gives us the hope to keep pressing on, making our time with Christ a daily blessing, with a growing confidence in the Spirit’s power, transforming us into the person God intends us to be, to look like; in fact, to resemble His son for “when He appears we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2 b ESV) Admittedly, this process of transformation is painfully slow, because of the “old man” weighing us down. But this promise of Scripture declares that we will get there through the power of the Spirit! We are in fact living in the midst of the Eschaton, the final days, as Christ already brought His Kingdom here. He is waiting for the final number of His children to enter, and we have the great privilege of participating in this harvest of souls. So keep pressing, for the righteous shall live by faith.

Primer contributed by Drek Beardsley