All to Him I Owe

Our family has been attempting to relocate here in Folsom. In our search for new housing, we have been reading contracts and rental home requirements. We are looking within documents for a full disclosure of our responsibilities for payment and requirements for living. Full disclosure helps us make wise and thoughtful decisions.

John 16:33 gives us full disclosure to our righteous lives here on earth. It says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” God’s full disclosure of life here on earth eliminates the element of surprise and enables us to focus on four right responses to the inevitable suffering of the righteous.

1. We must respond to suffering honestly.

Psalm 73:2 is helpful concerning this point. Notice how the Psalmist speaks openly and honestly to his suffering. He says, “But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.” He is not taking a “buck it up” or “real men don’t cry” mentality. He is honestly admitting the suffering and his vulnerability within it. In a similar fashion, we must respond through an honest admission of hard times and their impact on our lives. However, we cannot allow this to be the only element of our response. Notice the next three points.

2. We must respond to suffering by allowing God to deepen our relationship with His Word.

Richard Baxter said that “suffering unhinges the doors of our hearts to allow the Word of God easier entrance.” Have you found that to be true in your life? The Psalmist in Psalm 119 certainly found that to be true. Notice vss. 50, 67, 71, and 75. All four of these declare the profit the Psalmist received from suffering. The Word of God had comforted him (vs.50), kept him faithful (vs.67), taught him truths (vs.71), and reinforced God’s faithfulness to him (vs.75).

3. We must respond to suffering with a view that screens suffering through the lens of eternity.

I Peter 1:6-7 is so helpful in this regard. To those who have suffered or are suffering in something that feels like a lifetime, take comfort. Scripture teaches us that the longest suffering here on earth is still brief compared to eternity!

4. We must respond to suffering missionally.

The Psalmist Asaph and the Apostle Paul were both able to endure suffering because they looked at their suffering as a channel to one day help others who suffer.

Psalm 73:28 says, “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.”

II Corinthians 1:4 says, “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

II Corinthians 1:6 says “And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.”

We must not be surprised that God may lead us through something and give us something that is for a purpose bigger than ourselves. A missional response to suffering seeks to allow God to do things through us for the sake of others.

To each of you who has suffered righteously, have you responded right to righteous suffering?