Suffering is how we develop perseverance and self-control (Romans 5:3).  Through suffering we are learning to endure hardships and we are learning to submit to God by developing obedience (Hebrews 5:8).  Since God’s will for us is to be sanctified and flee from the desires and passions of the flesh, it should not be obvious that it is God’s will for us to suffer.  Therefore, suffering becomes a foundation to our faith.

“For what son is not disciplines by his father?  If you are not disciplines (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. – Hebrews 12:7-8

True grace is evident by God disciplining us (see this article on Grace and Discipline.)  Discipline is what teaches us to submit to God, through the fear of the Lord.  But it is important to understand whether your suffering is a consequence of sin or a result of God performing His work in you.  No doubt, we reap what we sow; therefore, we will reap suffering from sowing sin.  But also know that if God made Christ, the author of salvation, perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10), then it is God’s will for us to suffer since suffering perfects our faith.  And since satan opposes God, we can be sure that satan’s desires for us are 1) to confuse our suffering as being from God, when it reality it may be a consequence of some sin or 2) to deceive us into thinking that our God is the God that wants everything in our earthly life to go right, when in reality, God’s will for our earthly life is to perfect our faith through suffering.  With this in mind, let’s take a look at what suffering as a Christian means, biblically.

What does it mean that Christ was perfected through suffering?  Hebrews 2:18 tells us that Christ suffered when he was tempted.  Isaiah 53:11 says “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”  Therefore, Christ’s soul was also in agony from the pain (Psalm 42:10) and our iniquities when he was on the cross.  God’s will prospered through Christ’s suffering (Isaiah 53:10).

1 Peter 4:14-19 tells us that suffering as a Christian through insult or pain is a blessing and something not to be ashamed of.  Paul teaches us the same thing in 2 Timothy 1:12, 2:9 – that he was suffering by being in prison because of the Gospel, yet he was not ashamed.

Therefore, from the bible we see suffering as a result of temptation, pain, the disbelief of others, the sin of others, imprisonment, and insults.  Every aspect of suffering, except for the sin of others and temptation, is a direct effect of evangelism in a world that hates God.  Suffering due to temptation is a result of God teaching us obedience.  Suffering due to the sin of others (i.e.: sadness in heart) is a result of living in a corrupt world.  All three reasons for suffering are God’s will: It is God’s will that we evangelize, it is God’s will that we go through life on earth, and it is God’s will that we flee from sin.

Do not deceive yourself and think that suffering due to a bad decision, lack of finding a job, financial struggles, or losing friends is from suffering of a Christian.  These struggles are either a result of a lack of trust, self-control, or some sin on our part.  But let’s also remember what our comfort is while we suffer, if the suffering is God’s will:

“My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.” – Psalm 119:50

(the promise of eternal life)

-Mark

“Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.” – Acts 21:4

Why did Paul go to Jerusalem?  Better yet, why did Paul go to Jerusalem when his ministry was for the gentiles (Romans 15:16)?  The desire and work of an apostle is the spreading of the Gospel through evangelism.  If we take a step back to examine Paul’s journey prior to going to Jerusalem, we will recognize that Paul was being led by the Holy Spirit to head toward Spain, and on his way, pass through Rome (Romans 15:28).  But first, Paul had made the decision to go to Jerusalem (Romans 15:25).

Romans 15:25-28 explains that Paul was going to Jerusalem to ensure that the “poor among the saints” in Jerusalem received the fruit (contribution) given by Macedonia and Achaia.  While in Jerusalem, Paul also decided that he would strive to “arouse my own people (Jews) to envy and save some of them” (Romans 11:14).  Paul taught that Israel is holy since its firstfruits is holy:

“If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.” – Romans 11:16

In Acts 20:22-23, we are told that Paul was compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem.  However, the Holy Spirit warned that prison and hardships were facing Paul in every city.  Therefore, Paul knew that his ministry on earth was coming to a close.  Regardless, he felt led to go to Jerusalem.  In Acts 21:4, Paul and his crew arrived at Tyre where he met the disciples.  Here, they were urging Paul through the Holy Spirit not to go to Jerusalem.  Moreover, at Paul’s conversion, Christ Jesus told Paul to flee from Jerusalem “because they will not accept your testimony about me” – Acts 22:18.  So why would Paul continue on route to Jerusalem?  Clearly he wasn’t disobeying God.  It is clear in Acts 23:11 that God willed for Paul to testify in Jerusalem prior to testifying in Rome.  Paul was confident with the decision to go to Jerusalem because he recognized that the Spirit’s work in Israel was fulfilled through Christ and after Christ was the age of the Gentile.  The Holy Spirit was not wrong in urging Paul not to go, rather the Holy Spirit was warning.  The Holy Spirit’s warning was further confirmed through the prophet Agabus and his prophecy concerning Paul’s imprisonment in Acts 21:11-12.

To summarize the Holy Spirit’s role in Acts 21:4: The Holy Spirit warned that Paul would face prison and hardships.  Moreover, the Holy Spirit’s work in Israel was complete through the death and resurrection of Christ until the full number of Gentiles is reached.  Therefore, God, through His sovereign wisdom, used Paul’s hope and affection “for his own people” (see Romans 11:14) to lead Paul to Jerusalem so that the developing enmity of the Jews climaxed to their final rejection of grace.  Paul’s love, hope, affection, and longing to suffer for Christ gave him all the confidence that he needed to continue regardless of the Spirit’s warning.  Paul spoke plainly to the Jews perhaps so that the difference between grace and the law (Jew and Gentile) could be distinguished by the Jews.  Although the exact reason for God sending Paul to Jerusalem isn’t clear, we can learn some truths about this story that are applicable to our walks as Christians.

1) The Holy Spirit warns us of danger and leads in the path of God and when persecution comes, he gives strength to endure it.

2) Suffering for the name of Christ should be the decision-making factor in seeking out God’s will.  The Holy Spirit warned that Paul faced hardships and prison in every city.  As Paul did, we too should consider our lives to be worth nothing and in this, we will fulfill God’s moral will for our life.  Perhaps this is a truth that we should live by when uncertainty exists: choose the path that denounces your life and glorifies God.  Paul did not look back at the consequences of his decision.  He knew that by putting his life in harms way meant a certain death and by dying, his life’s work was threatened by the “savage wolves” to come (Acts 20:29).  Yet, Paul continued in the path that kept his life of no worth.  In other words, by staying to protect his life’s work, he would have considered his life of some worth, rather than giving it up to God – the giver of all worth!  Is your decision making based upon claiming some worth or value to your life?

-Mark

2nd Corinthians 12:7-10
“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul had a miraculous vision. He was taken up into the third heaven to see wonders and divine things, which leave him speechless in the end.  He doesn’t even try to articulate the vision because his words could never justify or relate these things too great for him to express.  As evidenced in Daniel or The Book of Revelation, we see that when one tries to explain these miraculous things, we are still left wondering in the mystery of their abstract words and thoughts.  Who wouldn’t want to tell everyone about what God has made known to them?  Yet Paul is very silent on speaking on what he saw. How can God give Paul this amazing sight and yet Paul is still tormented with a heavy burden.

Why would God give Paul this amazing gift and then have him be persecuted for discretely telling it to people? Looking at how Paul told them about his vision, we see he never went into details. Why would God torment him? The literal meaning for “torment” is to literally beat or buffet as in a fist fight.  Paul had to tell the people of Corinth about his vision because they saw him acting spacey, elevated, or silent.  And yet, after this joyous event, Paul exhibits tormented behavior- as Paul describes it, it is a thorn in his flesh.  These thorns affect everyone around you.  Have you ever been clinically depressed?  Have the people around you seen what was going on and wondered what was wrong with you?

Look at it closely. The thorn was the torment from a demon of Satan.  A demon was given unto Paul to torment him.  Who gave this thorn to Paul?  Who is over all things good or bad, but the Lord Himself.  All things are sanctioned by God first.  This thorn was given to Paul by God because he allowed it to come into Paul’s life for a purpose.

Still, why does God give Paul this vision and then, subsequently, give him a thorn that makes him cry out to God, begging Him to take it out?  Why would God give a gift, and then give a thorn?  Does God not want us to be blessed- to be completely satisfied without having to worry about a demon taking blows at us?

I would like to look at this from another perspective:
I am a sinful man, and I will be the first to say I have not lead a pure life. Even in my Christian walk, I was impure and did horrible things in the eyes of the Lord.  The things I have seen and done are things that should not even be talked about, but a man must confess his sins to be forgiven.
God has forgiven me and blessed me with a renewed heart, pure and blameless before Him.  Yet, I still have a thorn. Daily am I beat up by a demon, and too many times have I fallen and been defeated.  Yet, for once I know why I rejoice in this: because I can be thrown down by Satan’s minions and know it is a gift from God.

Paul was given this thorn as a pre-eminent way of God keeping him humble. Paul was no super-human who did not struggle, and he was not immune to being prideful.  He knew as well as God, that the the experience of the unimaginable vision could easily go to his head, thus God gave him a reminder, a precaution. A thorn.

The thorn that Paul talks about in 2nd Corinthians is not the only thorn that he has encountered, nor is it the only one we see in the Bible. Paul’s other thorn was an illness that is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, but it has to do something with his eyes or vision. The thorn of illness is one that God gives so that he may display his glory though us, something we shouldn’t take lightly. On the other hand, we must not get confused with what a thorn is not. People may think that sin itself is a thorn in their flesh, but in fact it isn’t. A thorn is something that is beyond our control that God has given us for a very specific reason. Does God make us sin? Never, for he cannot even tempt us.

Everyday I wake up with different thorns from different areas in my life that I have failed in. But this I know: It is a gift!  Beyond anything else, Satan wants to twist and distort something as amazing as this gift of humbling into something that we fear and cry out for God to take away. The Lord disciplines the children he loves!

I tell you, do not seek to remove this thorn.  Maybe you need this thorn for the rest of your life.  Make no mistake; do not think this means you are defeated or anything less in the eyes of God.  I would rather have a thousand thorns in my flesh when I come to His Judgment Seat, knowing it was all done that I may be kept from sinning. Don’t you see? These thorns are for our benefit, our sanctification! This is just one of the ways God loves us.

You may say, “but this hurts, why does it have to hurt?”  In all seriousness and honesty, do you think all you need is a slap on the wrist from time to time?  After giving completely into sexual immorality, there is not one man who upon walking away,  doesn’t want to be reminded of what he did.  If we are not disciplined by the Hand of God, we will commit the same sin over and over again.  We need this hurt more than anything, it is a bitter-sweet hurt that by the grace of God, we may be beaten, thrown down and spit upon.  But we get up and we fight, we fight with the armor of God and use His Word to push back the enemy.

Do you have an image, a thought, an action, that is burned into your mind?  That is your thorn, and every demon will do anything it can to make sure that you bleed from it.  I’ll tell you, I have more than I would care to count, but I know that I am a man carrying around someone else’s thoughts, someone else’s memories. I am estranged from that old self.  By seeing what he saw, I know I will not go anywhere near that evil again.  I’ll do whatever it takes to get away from what that man has gone through, because I have taken off the clothes of this earth and put on the righteousness that is Christ! Do not stain these new clothes with a making a mockery of the grace that he has given you.

I say, be thankful for these thorns, be thankful for these reminders for they are for our benefit! How he loves us through his grace to make us stand to the onslaught of attack, and how he is doing this so we may keep ourselves pure before Christ and all His angels. Rejoice, for this thorn is a gift, a gift to keep us holy and sanctified!

-Joseph