Doctrine Talk: Suffering that Lingers

My kid’s fall and get hurt frequently. In an effort to not overreact and make things worse, I will often quickly say “it’s ok..it’s fine…you’re good”

Recently I said that to one of my daughters and she looked at me, with tears in her eyes and said “mom, it is most definitely not ok.”

How many times in our suffering do we say to ourselves or someone else- it’s fine. I’m fine…everything is fine.”

Anyone who has suffered can tell you. It hurts. And the last thing that it is, is fine.

In our story this week we see Joseph endure suffering that just never seems to end. I’m sure if I tried to give him my motherly pep talk of “it’s ok..it’s fine…you’re good..”- he, like my daughter, would find it most unhelpful.

Suffering in our lives takes many different forms- it can be physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual. Suffering involves bearing and enduring pain, distress, wrong or hurt.

So ladies, what temptation, struggle, or hardship are you enduring right now?

Some of you are walking through suffering…suffering that has been there a while and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. None of us are immune to suffering in our lives.

God uses suffering to build strong character and draw us closer to Him. Suffering causes us to lean on, trust, and surrender to God in ways we never have before.

It exposes our need and drives us to depend more deeply on him.

Do you believe that God can use your most difficult and painful situations for your good and his glory?

Do you trust that he is sovereign over your suffering- even when you don’t have the answers?

In the middle of Joseph’s suffering- we see him reach out and care for the cupbearer and baker. In his suffering- he looks up and reaches out to someone else.

1 Corinthians 2:3-5 says:

“3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”

Who in your life needs comfort from you today?

I want to take a moment to say thank you for saying yes to BSF leadership, even when life hurts. Thank you for being leaders who wants to share the abounding love and comfort of Christ that you have received with another hurting woman or child. Thank you for working behind the scenes to keep our class running so that women and children can know the truth that there is a Savior who loves them and wants to comfort them in their suffering.

You are the hands and feet of Jesus to hurting women and children in our class. God is using your suffering to comfort others regardless if they know the details of what you are going through. God is using your suffering. He is sovereign over it. Do you believe that?

When I believe that God is sovereign in suffering, I know that no matter what I’m experiencing or how long it lasts, God is with me. He is working all things together for good, and He will be with me to the end.

Sometimes in suffering what we need most is not the right words to fix our problems or make the pain go away, sometimes what we need is someone to just “be” with us…to sit with us in our suffering, to remind us that we are not alone.

God knew that, and in our scripture this week, God shows up and through Joseph’s suffering…he is there with him, every step of the way.

God doesn’t rush in to try to fix Joseph’s suffering, he doesn’t show up with the perfect words and take away all his pain…but over and over in our scripture this week we are reminded that through it all- He is there. And that same God that sat with Joseph in the pit- is sitting with you now- walking with you every step of the way....Let’s pray.