Without surrendering to God’s discipline (through suffering) we cannot fully serve him. Those who resent and resist their suffering deny the glory they could have brought God. Unless we acknowledge that God has a right to discipline us, and we give him thanks during our pain, we waste our suffering and likely prolong it. If we do not learn the lessons God gives us, he has to let us repeat them in all of their pain. Worse yet, we live for our own pleasure and glory and not for his. Please join us as I explore the at-times painful but also rewarding experience of suffering for Christ.
A pastor compared the grueling and painful physical conditioning the best football players endure to our suffering for Christ. Well-conditioned ball players win more games, because their bodies are accustomed to endurance and strength-building workouts. They can play their game well for a longer time than those who skip conditioning work-outs. Like the players who skip the conditioning work-outs, Christians who resent and resist suffering can never handle harder life experiences with peace and contentment, nor can they serve God with a righteous heart. Because they complain and consider the smaller things they suffered to be unfair, they can not handle even harder life experiences well. And they have little or no compassion to offer others who suffer and are weak. They do not grow into the contented, mature, gracious, forgiving and calm people God has called us to be.
The Scriptures offers examples of those who graciously accepted their suffering with thanks to God and became stronger for it, along with those who complained in times of modest suffering and then fell apart when far harder experiences came. We can compare these two groups to the people Jesus described when he said that some people build their house on the rock, and others on sand (Matthew chapter 7.) Jesus said that those who build their house (lived their lives) upon His word were wise. Those who do not build on Jesus words (do not listen to and obey him) build their homes on sand, so that when a storm comes, the house crashes down. Jesus meant that those who do not listen to him and obey him have lives that initially look good but when hard times come, their lives fall apart.
And Jesus’ words reflect his teachings about submitting to suffering. For example, in chapter five of Matthew, Jesus speaks of nine beatitudes or blessings people receive. Here are eight of them: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and then those who are persecuted because of righteousness. Jesus closed those beatitudes with this statement in the 11th verse: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven…” Note that Jesus did not say everyone would inherit those blessings, even if they are persecuted. The only ones to inherit these blessings know how to be poor in spirit, in mourning (over sin), meek, hungering for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart and a peacemaker. This means that those who complain, become bitter, express resentment and reject God’s right to bring them to suffering do not inherit the blessings God intends. And when people have the complaining and rejecting attitude, they do not bring glory to God. When we honor God and acknowledge his right to discipline us, we bring him glory.
Joseph was sold into slavery, falsely accused by his boss’s wife and imprisoned and then forgotten for years by a man who promised to get Joseph out of jail. Yet Joseph never became bitter but kept honoring God, so that God honored him. Eventually Joseph was elevated to a position of great power and honor.
But King Saul complained about every small problem he had. He hated any suffering and complained often. He never admitted that God had a right to discipline him, and eventually God stopped talking to him. Pastor Vernon McGee does not even think King Saul went to heaven but to Hell. Even if Saul did go to heaven, he had no rewards waiting for him, and he did not bring God the glory, due to his complaining and rebellion against God’s discipline.
Joseph had strength of character, despite being weak in the position of a slave. Saul lacked that inner strength, despite being in a position of outward strength as the King of Israel. We must consider this irony. Joseph’s acceptance of his suffering, even his willingness to rejoice in suffering gave him strength. Saul continually complained during hardship and suffering until he became so weak he ended his life poorly, while Joseph died in honor at a much older age than King Saul was when he died. Most important of all, Joseph honored God throughout his life while King Saul brought reproach to God’s name by his behavior.
We can find many other Bible stories of those who complained and never submitted to God’s discipline. Now, God does honor people of the Bible, such as the Psalmists, who complain righteously. In their complaints, they speak directly to God, and when they feel he hears them, their behavior changes from complaint to praise of God. They do surrender to their suffering with eventual rejoicing. God understands that we may initially complain or groan when we suffer.
We must not remain in a complaining posture. We must find our hope in the Lord. It is the continual state of complaining without surrender to the Lord that offends him and weakens us. The initial complaining and then seeking of God’s comfort pleases God, because he wants us to approach him with honesty and not pretend we feel fine when we are actually hurt, confused, angry, and scared. God can handle our strong emotions. But we cannot remain in those emotions. God always offers us a place of hope and peace once we tell him, grieve and then get past our hard emotions. Part of our surrender to our suffering must include our admission that we are hurt and feel negatively.
God is working on my attitude about suffering. This June 2025 when I had that terrible fall in the grocery store and ripped ligaments and tendons in my knee and hip, I felt so negative. I thought of the many summer adventures I could no longer enjoy with my daughters. For a day or two, I just grieved and probably also complained. But then I reminded myself of Proverbs 3:12, which I had memorized: “The Lord corrects those he loves, even as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.” I memorized that verse partly because I love God’s delighting in me. But I also memorized it to remind me to accept hardships. I have memorized many other verses about surrendering to hardships (as part of God’s good discipline for me.) In a sense, I preached to myself the truth. The Holy Spirit helped me in this weakness. Even today, when I took my daughter to the beach, and I was still too injured to join her in the rough waves, I felt the sadness, because I normally get in the water and swim with her. But I also thanked God that I could walk at all and thanked him that I could be at the beach with my beloved daughter. I want to bring God the glory and not focus on problems.
There are some other, much more serious things I still need to face, beyond my physical injuries. God will help me with those too. But for now, I want to close by thanking you for joining us in this post about suffering, and I pray we have inspired you to find hope in whatever hardship you suffer. The suffering is real, and I do not make light of it. But I pray you can find joy in the Lord, despite this pain, and you can grow in your character because of your patience. May the Lord bless you this week.