Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good . . . —1 Peter 4:19
Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.
The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us; in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (see Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy for us to tarnish God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose (see Matthew 16:23). He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels (see Luke 15:10).
Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.
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August 10, 2011-2012
Thank you Lord for many things; including the process of learning to walk by faith, even when faith is the only avenue open to me. And even though I often do not appreciate the difficult times while I am in them, I can look back and understand how you used a particular circumstance to help shape me. I can also understand how you might use difficult times to shape my brothers and sisters. And while it makes sense for me to love them while they are inside a tough time, I also understand that You must have Your perfect will and perfect timing; working through circumstances with believers. Lord help me to understand this in my life and the lives of others and praise you during these times: all the while not attempting to try and help myself or others escape the trials too early.
And God says…”If you recall, we have been on the best of speaking terms when you were in the most need. When you have been overwhelmed by difficulties that you could not control, you always turned to Me. You have been learning this lesson over and over and over, so that now turning your daily life over to Me is not an occasional thing, it has become a pattern of living for you. Had you been able to handle your day to day circumstances there would have been no motivation for you to turn to Me so frequently and with the highest degrees of intensity. ”
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