The day I turned eighteen, I wrote the following prayer in my journal: “Lord, let my years of womanhood begin with a humble heart, offering up to you all that I am and asking that I might become more conformed to the image of Christ.”
Sounds nice, doesn’t it? In my youthful naivety, I truly believed I was prepared to offer all of myself to Christ with unflinching joy, come what may. But as my health began to spiral out of control in the weeks and months to follow and all my plans for the future were shattered before my eyes, I was shaken.
I found myself asking God a thousand questions. “Lord, I have offered all of myself to you. Why would you take away my good health? Why would you keep me from going to college? How can I serve you when I am suffering like this?”
Yet, as the Lord sanctified my heart and helped me to mature, I began to sense a gentle kindness in the hand that had afflicted me. Though I am still learning, I can now say with confidence that the Lord is merciful in every season. He faithfully uses bitter providence to make us new.
God’s Refining Work in Suffering
Hymns are often a healing balm in times of suffering. “I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow” by John Newton has been one of those hymns for me. The last three verses entirely shifted my perspective as I understood this precious truth: God sometimes answers prayer through affliction.
“Yea, more with His own hand He seemed Intent to aggravate my woe, Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, Humbled my heart and laid me low. ‘Lord, why is this?’ I trembling cried. ‘Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?’ ‘Tis in this way,’ the Lord replied, ‘I answer prayer for grace and faith. “These inward trials I employ From self and pride to set thee free And break thy schemes of earthly joy That thou may’st find thy all in me.’”
These words gripped my heart. It was as if they were written for me. Friends, God’s bitter providence is for our good! What a glorious, hope-filled truth! Though we may fail to see it at times, God does answer our prayers in the midst of our trials. He may shatter our plans to refine our hearts. He afflicts us to restore our souls. He conforms us more to the image of Christ by pressing us into the dust at the foot of his cross.
It seems God rarely chooses to answer requests for humility and maturity by suddenly granting them. Sanctification requires refining, and suffering is often the fire through which God reforms our hearts.
Job 23:10 says, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”
Dear Christian, are you burdened under the weight of a bitter providence? Do you doubt God’s goodness towards you? Perhaps this season of affliction is a means to a greater, more glorious end.
What if this great trial is actually profound evidence of God’s love for you—love that would watch a dear child suffer so that they could be refined and made new? What if, when the heavy burden is finally lifted from your shoulders, you come out as gold?
It might just be that this affliction is a providence-paved path to deepened joy.
Bitter Providence as Preparation for Ultimate Joy
But how could affliction be a path to joy? In the quiet loneliness of suffering, we often wonder why God would allow his people to hurt. It can become so easy to question his goodness when all we feel is pain and grief and loss. As we ponder this difficult question, we can find comfort in this simple thought: the joy of heaven will be so much sweeter because we have known the bitterness of suffering. Perhaps God allows affliction on this earth so that eternity with him will bring the most ultimate joy.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 speaks of our preparation for this ultimate joy.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Our suffering is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory that is beyond all comparison. We cannot even imagine it! This is ultimate joy, untainted by brokenness and sin. Praise the Lord for this unshakeable hope! Together, we long for the sweeter joy of heaven, where there will be no more mourning, no more crying, and no more pain (Revelation 21:4).
Friends, may this world grow increasingly foreign to our weary souls. May we come to know that heaven really is our home. May its unfading glory appear so beautiful to our sin-sick and suffering hearts that all the world fades in comparison. And until Christ beckons us home finally and forever, may we rejoice in the finished work of our Savior. He is preparing a place for us (John 14:3). He will be our joy, now and for all of eternity.
I love these words from Corrie ten Boom. They hold such credibility coming from a woman who suffered so deeply:
“Although the threads of my life have often seemed knotted, I know, by faith, that on the other side of the embroidery there is a crown.” 1
For the Christian, the end of suffering is never defeat. Because of Christ, every sorrow is filled with glorious purpose. Each bitter providence he has woven throughout the tapestry of our lives will, in time, form an imperishable crown (1 Corinthians 9:25).
Dear Christian, if you are bearing the heavy weight of affliction today, do not despair. The Lord does not afflict from his heart (Lamentations 3:33). He is kind to refine us, to make us like gold.
What a privilege it is to become more like Christ through suffering. Every bitter providence is precious evidence of God’s sanctifying work in our hearts. He is making us new and preparing us for an eternal weight of glory. We taste the bitterness of suffering now, but one day we will taste the sweeter joy of heaven. We shall come out as gold, wearing a crown.
Footnotes
1 Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord: The Story that Begins Where the Hiding Place Ends (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2008), 12.
This article originally appeared on WHEN, a Hosanna Revival blog.
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