What if God's Will Means Suffering?

It's natural for us to avoid pain. I remember one time I accidently grabbed a very very hot rack in an oven and seared my fingers pretty good. It made me shy of touching oven grates even though I knew the oven had been off for days!

Facing trials and stresses is the same way. We want to maximize the good feelings and minimize the troubles. This attitude also shapes our prayers. "God, please get me out of this jam, heal me, rescue me, provide what I need to pay that bill" and etc.

Praying that way is fine - in fact, King David prayed that a lot and wrote those prayers down as Psalms. But what happens if God wants us to undergo suffering? Does that change our prayers or our understanding and relationship with God?

I thought about this after reading Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane:

Mark 14:36 "And he said 'Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.'"

It was God's will that Jesus suffer. And sometimes it is his will that you not be healed, that you not get the money or that the person who is attacking you continues to get away with it. Does this mean God cannot intervene. Of course not. Does it mean God is just a bully who enjoys seeing us humans suffer for our sins. No - I don't believe that for a minute. Does it mean he simply doesn't care? No, I believe God cared deeply about what His Son was going through and He cares deeply about what you go through.

Knowing God intends to allow suffering sometimes makes us look deeper at both ourselves and our trials. "God causes all things to work together for the good." We've read that - and it is true. God is in the business of turning bad into good. In fact, He uses bad to bring about good.

How does that work? It is of course vastly more complicated than we will ever know, but one way is that suffering actually shapes our character and makes us more like God.

The Apostle Peter put it this way: "For whoever has suffered in the flesh and ceased from sin." (1 Peter :1).

Paul - who suffered a great deal by God's will said "When I am weak, then I am strong." He even went so far as to say:

2 Cor 12:9-10 "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities."

So the next time you face hardship - pray for relief, and also pray for - and accept - God's will - even if it means you still suffer.