All things spiritual either come from God or are allowed by God. We also know that suffering is to teach us obedience and to sharpen our faith in the long-run. These are good things…we should be sharing them as first-fruits to the Lord. Yet this is overlooked. Why? My guess is because suffering doesn't look even remotely like blessing but blessing often comes through perseverance in the unpleasant. To begin with, I need to give my pain to God firstly so that when it comes time for joy and blessing, pain will have paved the way for giving Godly behavior when blessing does come my way.
Is first
fruits of suffering biblical? Yes, very much so. Am I saying that God's suffering was not enough for us to gain salvation? Good grief no, that's more along the lines of the Catholic idea of redemptive suffering which is in reality a work that is unnecessary. I am merely stating that a way to help us cope with our trials and pain and still give glory to God is to first go to God to give him first of our pain...just as we would with any other thing that comes from God.
At some
point if we truly understand, live out and accept the principles of Scripture
we might be able to see or find the joy in suffering that Paul did in
Philippians. If we somehow manage to recognize the joy in the suffering we can then see what the
suffering points us to. If suffering at some point can be considered joy it
could then also be considered a blessing. If it could be considered a blessing
it is therefore a by-product of that blessing. It therefore stands to reason
that we should offer the first fruit of our suffering including the suffering
itself up to God. That is because of the good end to which our suffering will
take us.
Romans 5:3-5
~ More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces
endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and
hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
As a matter
of fact James tells us that trials should all be counted joy (therefore
blessing) because of the steadfastness and completeness I produces in a
believer.
James 1:2-4
~ Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you
know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let
steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.
It warrants
that we offer up pain and discomfort up to God as the blessing it is. Even Job
whose suffering is second only to Christ’s on the cross had something profound
to say about this concept.
Job 2:10
"... if we have received good things at the hand of God, why should
we not receive evil?"
Each day we
should never fail to thank God for the things He has done and will do for us
that bless us. We should be sure to offer up the first fruits of our
suffering. It is in actuality an exchange. By giving God our pain, we allow for
God to heal us and refill our tanks so that we can pursue His will further. It
is just like when we give God our sins…we receive sanctification in its place. This
exchange also requires our dependency on God and forces us to reassert that dependency
and relationship. If done properly it is done multiple times a day. Offering up
our suffering and sin in return for comfort and glimpses of the Kingdom of God.
What happens
when we don’t offer up the first fruits of our pain? There is a good chance we’ll
hold on to the pain instead of divesting ourselves of it like we were made to
do. God wants us to come to Him to take the load off. In its place we put
Christ.
Matthew
11:29 ~ “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Our
suffering has been allowed by God. It does not follow that God is maliciously
doing it. Pain and suffering is the spiritual classroom of hard learning (school of hard knocks). The lessons we
learn in suffering are hard earned and not soon forgotten. It would make sense
that God would be glad to help us out in our suffering as He has told us to go
to Him in our suffering. He has specifically told us we would be comforted in
our afflictions (2 Corinthians 1:4). He knows what we suffer…He can certainly handle your pain if you hand it over to Him. He already died for you on a cross. If we can trust him
with our eternal well-being, we can trust Him with our pain and broken hearts.
Even in offering our pain and suffering to God we bring glory to Him, not shame. How? Because it shows others that even in the depths of torment and suffering, we trust God to do the right thing for us, just as Job did….just as Jesus did. Suffering therefore is not the end of hope but the facilitator and builder of hope.
Sometimes...even when you have nothing to offer up to God...you should offer exactly that...nothing or what appears to be nothing. Our pain offered up to God certainly looks like less than nothing to us but to God and others watching it shows the Lord is first in our lives...even when we are at our lowest or at our worst.
Even in offering our pain and suffering to God we bring glory to Him, not shame. How? Because it shows others that even in the depths of torment and suffering, we trust God to do the right thing for us, just as Job did….just as Jesus did. Suffering therefore is not the end of hope but the facilitator and builder of hope.
Sometimes...even when you have nothing to offer up to God...you should offer exactly that...nothing or what appears to be nothing. Our pain offered up to God certainly looks like less than nothing to us but to God and others watching it shows the Lord is first in our lives...even when we are at our lowest or at our worst.
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