09/18/2020
Are you suffering in some way today? Have you been in prayer concerning it? If so, how do you perceive the agony you are enduring, and in what way are you asking that it be lifted from you when you pray? Is your prayer a selfish one as you pray “Father heal me!”, or do you pray A righteous prayer... “Father heal me that you might be glorified, and I might serve you better!”. How do you view the pain you suffer; is it punitive, or an opportunity afforded you by God to bring glory to His name?
“For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.””
Acts 9:16 ESV
I have suffered in my life, and called out to the Lord in desperation, tears, and great emotion. On one such occasion I had a child who was addicted to prescription pain killers, and their life was spiraling downward. My wife and I did everything we knew to help, but it wasn’t enough. We dropped to our knees and totally humbled ourselves before God, but it wasn’t until we reached a point of total submission, and prayed that there was nothing else we knew to do, and that we were placing this completely in His hands, that He answered, and within weeks our child was sober, and had returned to Jesus Christ. In its entirety this is an amazing story of the glory of God, and I have told it repeatedly as I witnessed to others. I know in my heart that until I had experienced this I had no idea how to truly pray for others.
“My losses are rich losses, my pains easy pain, my heavy days are holy and happy days. They give me opportunity to testify to my friends. I should be satisfied that joy and sorrow share a part in my life.” - Samuel Rutherford, The Loveliness of Christ
It was the same when I had cancer, and because of that season of pain and suffering, I was able to testify to others regarding my experience with cancer, and much more than that, I could tell them of God’s Glory, and how His Son Jesus can bring healing into our lives. I wrote an open letter to cancer patients that was published in a nationwide forum, had magazine articles written about my experience, was interviewed, was asked to make a video by the national cancer center that helped cure me, and witnessed personally to others who were struggling with cancer. Sometimes those I witnessed to were healed, sometimes they weren’t but found their faith, yet in all cases God was glorified. It reminded me of Paul and his weakness. He prayed three times that it be lifted from him, but I have often wondered if it would have been the testimony it became In his letter to the Corinthians had God simply removed that weakness from him? I think that sometimes our suffering IS the blessing.
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 ESV
When we suffer we are broken, sometimes we are broken in spirit, sometimes morally by sin, sometimes emotionally, and at other times bodily, but we are always broken in some way. It is no coincidence that every bible hero is a broken man or woman. I read a wonderful quote by Vance Havner who was a noted Evangelist, listen to what he said on this subject...
“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.” - Vance Havner, Evangelist
So are you suffering today? Are you broken in some way and asking God why He has allowed this to happen, or to heal you as Paul once asked? Well whatever you are going through right now it is meant to glorify God, so how obedient are you being to His will in your suffering, and if you are praying, is your prayer a selfish one, or for God to be glorified by the outcome... whatever He wills that to be? Revisit your circumstances today, and humble yourself completely before God... you aren’t giving up... you are giving it to Him.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for allowing us to glorify you in our lives. We thank you for all of the successes and happy occasions that bring you glory, but we also thank you for the failures, and suffering that ultimately glorify you as well. You love us and are good, and even in our most trying times we know that your good Will is being realized... if we will only trust in the love you have for us, and be obedient to your will. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who holds all glory in the palm of your hand, and who, by your love, works all things for our good. We praise you for every outcome to our prayers because your will underlies each of them. We present ourselves in worship as we lay prostrate before you, humble in our ways, and subservient in all we do. You are merciful Father, and show that mercy through our suffering, you are full of grace, and pour it over us from the cup that is Jesus Christ. Teach us to pray Jesus, and to accept the will of the Father, whatever His response, and in all circumstances that He wills for us. Holy Spirit, help us to glorify the Father, and in this way be pleasing to Him. Wash us clean of sin Jesus, and lead us before the Lord so that we might join you at His table forevermore.
“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”
Isaiah 48:10-11 ESV
Rich Forbes