The Power of Suffering by John MacArthur, Jr.

From the Introduction

The atmosphere surrounding today's evangelical church, with its emphasis on easy believism and "feel-good-about-yourself" Christianity, has fostered an unbiblical attitude among believers toward the existence of suffering and persecution in their lives. In addition to the natural aversion to pain and difficulty, many Christians have acquired the notion that hardships should not even cross their paths. When various difficulties do come their way they believe these difficulties are not from God. But this has not been the mindset of Christians from the earliest days of the church...

Jesus tells us we should expect troubles: "In the world you have tribulation" (John 16:33). He Himself did not avoid dealing with hardship and experiencing feelings of distress.

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 the Apostle Paul, based on personal experience, gives a partial list of his troubles. "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed." Even history's greatest evangelist and missionary was not immune to sufferings, trials, and persecutions.

So we see that in God's sovereignty all kinds of difficulties and hardships are real and should be expected in the lives of genuine Christians. One primary reason many believers today have a hard time accepting the role of suffering in their lives or in the lives of friends and loved ones is that they have failed to understand and accept the reality of divine sovereignty. Many also fail to see adversity from God's perspective. In so doing, they completely overlook the positive, strengthening, perfecting effect that trials are designed to have on believers' faith...it is possible, and actually God's desire, that we do more than merely survive or barely tolerate a season of testing or suffering. The Lord wants the experience, though perhaps difficult, as we pass through it, to be a positive one in the end -- one that strengthens and refines our faith. (Job 23:10).

As you read this book it is my earnest hope that you will receive fresh new insights into the role of suffering in the Christian life. I pray that whatever misconceptions or doubts you have about the place of suffering in God's plan will fade away. May you instead, by His grace, be conformed evermore to the image of Christ as you understand better the refining power that pain and adversity exercise in the believer's life.

Contents

Ch. 1 - Suffering in the Plan of God

Ch. 2 - Examples of Faith in the Fire

Ch. 3 - Paul: A Profile in Suffering

Ch. 4 - The Silence of the Lamb of God

Ch. 5 - Preparing for Suffering

Ch. 6 - Dealing with Suffering

Ch. 7 - The Lessons from Sufferings

1. Suffering Produces Fresh Joy
2. Suffering Enhances Future Glory
3. Suffering Produces True Comfort
4. Suffering Yields Greater Wisdom
5. Suffering Yields Greater Humility

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Lessons Learned From Suffering

Knowing that any suffering experienced by believers is part of God's overall sovereign plan provides its own comfort. However, as with any aspect of truth in the Christian life, intellectual knowledge is not an exact parallel to experiential knowledge. Until we know how we react in the midst of living out a certain truth, intellectual allegiance counts for nothing (James 1:25-27; 2:14-17). Testing the validity of what believers profess is one of the fundamental reasons God allows suffering (Job 23:10).

One sure way to test the genuineness of a diamond is by means of what jewelers call the water test. An imitation stone never shines as brilliantly as a real one, but the contrast is not always easy to detect just by ordinary viewing. Jewelers know that placing a genuine diamond and an imitation one side by side in water will reveal the differences. The real one continues to sparkle brilliantly under water, whereas the fake one loses practically all its sparkle.

As an analogy to this illustration, many people who are very confident in the genuineness of their faith find it lacking when they come under the waters of sorrow or adversity. The supposed diamond brilliance of their faith is then shown to be nothing but an imitation; however, put the true child of God under the water of a trial and he will shine as brilliantly as ever. G.K. Chesterton also used the metaphor of water to make the same point: "I believe in getting into hot water, I think it keeps you clean."

The Lesson of Faith

It seems clear then that the foremost reason God tests us through suffering is to test the strength of our faith. One of the classic case studies in Scripture that illustrates this is the account of Abraham's testing in Genesis 22. It was, in my estimation, the severest trial any human being ever faced.

The whole idea was absolutely inconceivable. It was a trial that made no sense -- not in terms of God's nature, His plan of redemption, His word, and His or Abraham's love for Isaac. In addition to these factors, this trial was perhaps the severest ever for a human being because God told Abraham himself to kill Isaac. It's one thing to watch a loved one die, it's something else to be told to kill that person.

Abraham revealed amazing faith in this situation. He obeyed God obediently, without question or argument (v. 3). In verses 5 and 8 he expressed the quiet confidence, first of all, that he and Isaac would return and, second, that God would provide a lamb for the burnt offering. Those acts suggest that deep down in his heart Abraham knew God's action was going to be consistent with his character and covenant. Abraham may not have known specifically what that was, but the passage indicates that he had a good idea. Abraham was prepared to plunge a knife into the chest of his own son. He was submissive, obedient, and willing to worship God at any cost. God accepted Abraham's willingness as evidence of his faith and clothed him with righteousness.

Such extraordinary obedience in the face of the severest of trials informs us that a believer today can endure the most difficult trials imaginable if he or she wholeheartedly trusts in God. Abraham's test also informs us that God's tests for us might involve people we hold very near and dear, such as sons, daughters, husbands, wives, or close friends. We may have to offer up our own Isaac -- give the ones we love most over to the Lord. We may need to let them go God's way, rather than holding on to them so they'll live the way we'd prefer.

We can conclude that the more difficult the obedience the more excellent it is. Abraham obeyed God in the extremity and as a result he became the model of faith. Thus anyone who has faith in God and is thereby justified is a child in the spiritual line of Abraham. If we trust God as Abraham did, we can be confident in any test or trial.

Second Chronicles 32:31 summarized Hezekiah's testings from the Lord by stating that the purpose was so "He might know what was in his heart." Surely God does not have to test any of us to find out what is in our hearts because he already knows. Rather, He tests us so that we might know what is in our hearts. In that sense He assists us in taking a spiritual inventory and self-examination. Whenever God brings us through a severe trial, it will reveal to us either the strength or weakness of our faith, and the faithfulness of God. If by grace we display a strong faith, that ought to encourage us that it's real and that it can become stronger as we continue to see the Lord through trials (see Job 42:1-6).

(from The Power of Suffering by John MacArthur, Jr.)