This is a topic the guys in my Bible study class have been able to relate to...
...suffering! Hence, the doleful cry of "Why God, why?" is universal in scope. After all, we've all experienced varying degrees of hardship, disappointment, discouragement, and even the death of those whom we love. And what is common today in the realm of suffering, was common in biblical times as well.
Job, Jonah, King David, the apostle Paul as well as many others had to go through difficult times when their faith was tested to the limit. While even the Lord Jesus himself had to experience pain and hardship during His sojourn on earth, as we learned from the Scriptures we looked at.
In Hebrews 5:1-9, for example, we read how Jesus Himself had to learn obedience "by the things which He suffered." And His suffering was not always physical. At times, it was emotional. Messiah Jesus experienced rejection. His friends, at the early stages of His public ministry, declared that Jesus had lost His mind. While others said He was possessed by the devil. Multitudes mocked Him. Many walked away from Him. Yet the Son of Suffering pressed on. The more Christ suffered, the more determined He was to press onward to the cross.
Seeing then how our Lord dealt with suffering, and how others in the Bible did too, we were able to better relate to them. I had the men picture themselves as being in the midst of these faithful brethren. How our hardships and difficulties are small when compared to what they had to face.
Hopefully everybody, including myself, learned that through faith in the Lord, and by the sustaining power Holy Spirit who dwells within the heart of the believer, we can overcome every challenge that may come our way.
In addition, and just as important to know, is that our hardships and times of suffering, be they physical or mental, or both, have a good purpose. They come upon us with the Lord's permission to further develop and strengthen our faith, and to build godly character within us. They also help to make us more sympathetic to the sufferings of others, so that we may be able to comfort them with the same comfort we received from the Lord.
This was so clearly explained in the apostle Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church, in what was then located in the city of Corinth, which is now a part of modern-day Greece.
Therefore, in closing, I had the men read 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. In this passage of Scripture, we are instructed to comfort those who are troubled and hurting, with the same comfort that we were given when we were hurting. "And that's love in action," I said to the class.
D.B.
Job, Jonah, King David, the apostle Paul as well as many others had to go through difficult times when their faith was tested to the limit. While even the Lord Jesus himself had to experience pain and hardship during His sojourn on earth, as we learned from the Scriptures we looked at.
In Hebrews 5:1-9, for example, we read how Jesus Himself had to learn obedience "by the things which He suffered." And His suffering was not always physical. At times, it was emotional. Messiah Jesus experienced rejection. His friends, at the early stages of His public ministry, declared that Jesus had lost His mind. While others said He was possessed by the devil. Multitudes mocked Him. Many walked away from Him. Yet the Son of Suffering pressed on. The more Christ suffered, the more determined He was to press onward to the cross.
Seeing then how our Lord dealt with suffering, and how others in the Bible did too, we were able to better relate to them. I had the men picture themselves as being in the midst of these faithful brethren. How our hardships and difficulties are small when compared to what they had to face.
Hopefully everybody, including myself, learned that through faith in the Lord, and by the sustaining power Holy Spirit who dwells within the heart of the believer, we can overcome every challenge that may come our way.
In addition, and just as important to know, is that our hardships and times of suffering, be they physical or mental, or both, have a good purpose. They come upon us with the Lord's permission to further develop and strengthen our faith, and to build godly character within us. They also help to make us more sympathetic to the sufferings of others, so that we may be able to comfort them with the same comfort we received from the Lord.
This was so clearly explained in the apostle Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church, in what was then located in the city of Corinth, which is now a part of modern-day Greece.
Therefore, in closing, I had the men read 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. In this passage of Scripture, we are instructed to comfort those who are troubled and hurting, with the same comfort that we were given when we were hurting. "And that's love in action," I said to the class.
D.B.