A Divine Invitation by Steve McVey
“The seed
of sin planted in this world in the garden of Eden continues to bear fruit to
the present day. In the general sense, human suffering is a result of the fall
of man… Faith seldom answers the ‘why’ of our problems, but instead offers the
answer to ‘how’ we can survive our circumstances…
“In the
midst of painful circumstances, we can still know intimacy with God by
recognizing an important fact-our circumstances are not an indication of
how God feels about us. (Romans 8:38-39)… God’s final word on how He feels
about you is revealed by the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, not by
whatever circumstances you may face…
Experiencing Him in Our Suffering
“Salvation
is not a matter of Jesus Christ coming into our lives. That perspective
is egocentric because it makes man the focal point in regeneration. To become a
Christian means that we enter into His life. Our old life is put to
death (Galatians 2:20 ; Romans 17:28 ).
“…When you
entered into Christ, you came into union with every aspect of His life.
Suffering is not an insignificant part of living in Him; it is one of the most
effective ways that the Holy Spirit teaches us our true identity in Christ. It
is often through suffering that God carries us deeper and deeper into an
understanding of who we are in Him and Who He is in us. How does this occur?
Perhaps an illustration from my own life will help explain.
“Several
years ago I had taken an early-morning shower. I slid the shower door open to
step out, when somehow it suddenly jumped off its track. The door instantly
fell with its edge landing straight across the top of my big toe like a
guillotine…
“When the
door hit my toe, I felt a mental jolt in my brain as if someone had just shot
me in the head. I looked down at my toe and saw a deep gash, which was now
pouring out blood. I jumped out of the shower and into the bedroom on one foot…
“When that
shower door cut my toe, everything else in life lost its significance to me…
Only one thing mattered to me at that moment. You might say that right then, my
whole life was a big toe. My all-consuming thought was, ‘I need a doctor now.’
…
“…My pain
served one purpose with extreme efficiency-it caused me to want to see the
doctor. That’s the way real suffering works in the lives of Christians.
Suffering causes the believer to become consumed with the desire to experience
Jesus Christ! It makes us want to see Him, to hear His voice, to feel His touch
in our circumstances. This strand in the cord of eternal truth about suffering
will sustain the Christian who clings to it. Our pain points us toward Jesus
Christ!
“Suffering
brings the indwelling life of Christ into our lives in a manifest way,
enabling us to sense Him, to see Him by faith in ways that are seldom
experienced in calmer days. When I cut my toe, I became oblivious to everything
except my immediate need and my desire for the one who could meet that need.
“So it is
in our grace walk. God uses the severe problems of life to focus our attention
on Jesus. The believer’s thoughts turn to Christ in times of suffering as
naturally as my thoughts turned toward the doctor when I had my accident.
Suffering has a way of immediately distancing us from the superfluous,
incidental matters of life that distract us from Jesus Christ. When a believer
hurts, deep from within, at the vary core of his being, is the heartfelt cry, ‘Abba!
Daddy’ (Romans 8:15 ).
“When Abba’s
babies hurt, He is intensively involved. Sometimes our pain is so great that it
cannot be clearly expressed in words… (Romans
“God loves
you so much that He will always work in your circumstances when you
suffer. Don’t think that because He doesn’t eliminate the problem, help isn't being given. Sometimes His most helpful acts in our lives occur when He goes through
our circumstances with us instead of delivering us out of them. I have
sometimes prayed, ‘Father, this hurts too much for it to be wasted. Please
accomplish the maximum good in this situation that can be done.’
“God’s goal
when we suffer is that Christ’s life within us may be manifested. As Watchman
Nee pointed out, it is only when the alabaster box containing the precious,
aromatic ointment is broken that its beautiful fragrance can fill the
environment (Mark 14:3-9). God continually works to break us of any hope that we
have life under control so that we will experience life under His
control. It’s in this breaking process, facilitated by suffering, that
self-reliance is set aside and the fragrance of Christ is released from within.
“…Christ is
not simply in you life; He is your life!.. He will walk the path
of pain with you, and in the person of the Comforter (John 14:16 ) will sustain you each step of the way.
“…Jesus
knows about your troubles. Perhaps it’s time for you to stop trying to figure
out the why of your circumstances and recognize the who behind every situation
of your life. Maybe answers will come to you at some point in life. Maybe they
won’t. What really matters is not that you understand, but that you trust… He
wants to hold you in His arms and go through your struggles with you.”
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