Lesson 59: Suffering – Summary Insights From “Be Still My Soul” (From Nancy Guthrie, ed.)

  • When physical and emotional suffering occurs in our lives, it helps us to grow and mature spiritually. This leads to greater fullness of life for us and others around us.

  • Our suffering is very minor compared to the reward we will have for eternity. Anyone would be willing to suffer for five minutes if they knew the rest of their lives would be very happy. A lifetime of suffering wouldn’t equal a second in eternity, where the joy will be incomparable.

  • We don’t suffer because of sins we have committed; Jesus was sinless yet suffered. God will never forsake us in our suffering. Physical pain is good for us because without it we would continually injure ourselves. Emotional pain is even better because it can save us from spiritual injury. God is not so much concerned with saving us from suffering in this life as He is in rescuing us from sin. He wants us to learn to hate our sin and grow in likeness to Jesus. God may allow us to feel the sting of sin’s penalty through suffering to remind us of what we’re being saved from.

  • When we don’t know why certain circumstance are playing out in our lives, we need to remember that as individuals occupying only a short period of time on earth, we have very limited perspectives and so we need to trust and have complete faith in the wise goodness of God who alone knows why.

  • When God remains silent during times of great need, trial or expectation, we need to continue on in faith, believing that all will ultimately work out for our good, if we are children of God. We need to always remember that God is always there, and God is good. Even Jesus asked “My God, where are you?”

  • God is in control of all things and He uses good and evil people and circumstances to bring about good. All of history, including our own personal lives, are under God’s control.

  • All Christians need to take up our own Cross daily and follow Jesus. It will be our own Cross to bear and not one of our own choosing. But Jesus says “My yoke is light”. By contrast, the burdens we place on ourselves due to our own sinful choices, may be very heavy. When we take up our God-given Cross and suffer, we will also feel joy because we will have closeness and communion with Jesus.

  • We tend to think that our burdens are worse than those of others. Christ suffered more than any of us could. If we grow to understand and appreciate that, we would find it easier to help others and share their burdens.

  • God allows both blessings and sorrows to come in to our lives. To expect a life filled only with good fortune would give us the false impression that each of us is the center and God is here to serve us. God does not direct the course of things according to our desires; in His plan there are other motives that operate outside of our preferences. We are helpless and He is in control and we have no choice but to submit to an almightiness that absorbs us and everything that is ours. The sooner we realize this the sooner we will know God as He is and not as we would like Him to be. We need to cooperate with God’s plan and enter into it, whether it be through joy or sorrow.