"You have been grieved by various trials" (1 Peter 1:6).
How we we understand suffering is an important question put to every religion and philosophy. For the Christian it is even more pointed. If God is good, loving, almighty, all-knowing - why do people suffer? If I am a Christian how should I understand my suffering? For the Christian there are two kinds of suffering to keep in mind. One kind all people experience in daily life: death, pain, betrayal, evil. The second kind of suffering is persecution or suffering because of the name of Jesus: a man loses his job because of his faith in Christ. Peter will continue to address this theme throughout the letter, but here he gives an important answer for the Christian to keep in mind. Suffering tests our faith, much like opposition tests our resolve. When we make a decision to pursue a goal we often encounter opposition. That opposition will reveal how strongly we want to accomplish the goal before us. When I made the decision to attend graduate school I encountered opposition. Our preacher's wife warned me about becoming too heavenly minded to be any earthly good (they wanted me to serve with them as a youth minister). When I arrived in east Tennessee my student loan had not arrived so I faced the beginning of the semester with a bill from the seminary and no cash (and no job, at least at the beginning). I learned to persevere, to complete the task at hand in the face of obstacles - which has been an important lesson for life.
For the Christian faith it is the same. Our faith grows stronger by living through trials and suffering. We learn to see opposition and set backs as an opportunity to test our faith rather than the absence of God's favor. We learn that God walks with us through the trial and provides the strength and resources for the test - if we trust him. Our faith emerges stronger to the honor of Christ who goes before us in every trial.
There is more to say about this but we will save that for another post.
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Mark,
I am enjoying your blog. This post on suffering resonated with me because I've been thinking about Hebrews 12 this week in preparation for Sunday's sermon.
One of the most moving passages on God's discipline is contained in Heb. 12:4-11, where we find that the Lord disciplines us for our good, as a loving father knows he must discipline his children.
John Piper comments on this passage in Hebrews by saying something like, 'just as Christ has taken the sting out of death, He's also taken the punishment out of suffering.' That is, Christ bore the punishment for our sins. He has triumphed over Satan's schemes. He has redeemed this fallen and broken world in which we live. So--and I am amazed by this thought--God redeems the suffering which we might endure, somehow transforming it and allowing it to be used so that we might become mature in Christ.
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