SUFFERING, RESPONSE TO

Several years ago, there was a man going through great physical problems and one of his legs had to be amputated. That did not arrest the course of his disease, and he ultimately died because of it. Just a few days before the man’s death, a minister visited him in the hospital, and the patient said something that perfectly expresses what “rejoicing in suffering” means to a Christian: “I never would have chosen one of the trials that I’ve gone through, but I wouldn’t have missed any of them for the world!”

This man had an awareness that his suffering was something of value. He wouldn’t have missed it! He wouldn’t have chosen it either! That is rejoicing in suffering.1350

An unknown author has written these very appropriate words about suffering:

“It is well that we should think, sometimes, of the Upper Room, and of the Last Supper, and of His soul ‘exceeding sorrowful unto death’; of Gethsemane, the deep shadow of the olive trees, his loneliness, prayers, and disappointment with his disciples, his bloody sweat; the traitor’s kiss, the binding, the blow in the face, the spitting, the buffeting, the mocking, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the smiting; the sorrowful way, and burdensome cross, the exhaustion and collapse; the stripping, the impaling, the jeers of his foes, the flight of his friends; the hours on the cross, the darkness, his being forsaken of God; his thirst, and the end.1351

You may explain to a child all the medical reasons why he must have a shot in the arm, but when the nurse gets ready to plunge that needle into his arm, he runs to Mommy. Comfort comes not in always knowing the reason why, but in knowing the comforter.1352

It is clear from Scripture that “rejoicing in suffering” is not simply stoicism. It is not simply a grin-and-bear-it attitude of tough-it-out-and-see-how-much-you-can-take, or just-hang-in-there-until-it’s-over-and-don’t-let-anything-get-you-down, or keep-a-stiff-upper-lip. Many people feel that if they do this, they are obeying God and “rejoicing in suffering.” But they are not.1353