Suffering Is Necessary
who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. ~Hebrews 5:7-9
“Well-meaning” Christians are quick to say that our trials cause us to grow. It never occurred to me until today that Jesus learned obedience the same way that we do: through hardship.
Although I know that Jesus was a man when He walked on earth, I think of Him as being God. In reality, He was both, but I expect that His human side could have rebelled against God’s authority just like Lucifer did many years before. Instead, He understood the reason for His existence and “humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the Cross” (Philippians 2:8).
First Peter 4:12 tells us:
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.
So what do we do? We think it strange. Why is this happening to me? What have I done wrong? It may have nothing to do with what you’re doing wrong. You may be about to do something right.
The Hoppers sang a song which said:
Now if I had no mountains
Lord, I might forget to pray
And if there were no trials
Well, I might even stray
We like to think we would be even stronger Christians without hardship, but I bet you go to your knees a lot more when you are being tried. It is during those trying times that we can unequivocally declare that God’s Word is true. Early in life, we live by faith, but experience is the best testimony.
I find it comforting that Jesus knows what our life on earth is like. He understands heartache and temptation and probably fear, but He tells us to cast all our cares onto Him and rest in the assurance that He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
When you find yourself going through a difficult time, read the Gospels. Think about everything Jesus gave up to come to earth and be one of us. But notice how He responded to each situation. Most of the time, He was filled with love and compassion, knowing that people are like sheep without a shepherd. They needed someone to lead them. Thank God that today we have the Holy Spirit. May we follow His leading and respond to hardships the way that Jesus did.
Photo by Timeo Buehrer on Unsplash
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