Whenever we pursue things other than (or outside of) God, we find they leave us empty and create other problems. They also cause us to feel distant from God, resulting in us missing his presence. This drives us to return and pursue Him more faithfully so we might experience him and his infinite love again more fully.
As we partake of his presence, we long for it more and when it's absent, this increases our desire to avoid whatever alienates us from Him and creates a sense of His absence.
The saying goes that you can lead a horse to water but cannot make it drink. While God never forces us to pursue him He knows the best way to help us see the need for him. To continue with the analogy, He doesn't make a drink but he does know how to salt our oats.
We may not always know why we suffer or the specific benefit we will gain from it at that time - i.e. if we will ever see any immediate or long term circumstantial benefit, or gain anything at all in this life - but we know the general reason is so we might draw closer to and partake of Him more and who He is as the source of life, love, and all things. This may or may not result in a change of circumstances but it always results in a change of disposition. It brings us to a place of greater joy, contentment, and rest in Him.
We may not always know why we suffer or the specific benefit we will gain from it at that time - i.e. if we will ever see any immediate or long term circumstantial benefit, or gain anything at all in this life - but we know the general reason is so we might draw closer to and partake of Him more and who He is as the source of life, love, and all things. This may or may not result in a change of circumstances but it always results in a change of disposition. It brings us to a place of greater joy, contentment, and rest in Him.
We are told that "eye has not yet seen or ear yet heard..." what God has for us in eternity and what exactly being fully glorified and like Christ will look like. But this may be the primary reason we are given to encourage us ¹in our struggles i.e. to make us more Christlike. If and when we trust God, knowing this is sufficient.
The rub is what we gain eternally is often not obvious and has no immediate benefit to us now but a gain we have to accept by faith. An analogy Tim Keller used, was we don't have a video explanation of the value we receive from our struggles but an audio one. It is one we are given by words (promises) not by sight - at least not yet. Words we must believe but promises we have not actually seen firsthand with their own eyes or fully experienced. It is this very faith God is seeking to stretch and increase. So we do have some idea -- audio -- why we should remain faithful in our pursue of God but not the complete idea - video i.e. we are not yet face-to-face with Jesus.
Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29
The rub is what we gain eternally is often not obvious and has no immediate benefit to us now but a gain we have to accept by faith. An analogy Tim Keller used, was we don't have a video explanation of the value we receive from our struggles but an audio one. It is one we are given by words (promises) not by sight - at least not yet. Words we must believe but promises we have not actually seen firsthand with their own eyes or fully experienced. It is this very faith God is seeking to stretch and increase. So we do have some idea -- audio -- why we should remain faithful in our pursue of God but not the complete idea - video i.e. we are not yet face-to-face with Jesus.
Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29
It is our believing while not seeing that God is looking to stretch and expand.
¹Actually there is another very significant reason for our suffering. It is so we will understand Christ's suffering on our behalf more fully. The more we understand his suffering -- which usually doesn't occur until we go through our own -- the more we see His love and in turn grow in our love for him and what he did for us. For a further discussion on this click here.
Another reason may simply be that we become more compassionate for the suffering of others which enables us to better love our neighbor as ourselves. This too is a present benefit.
¹Actually there is another very significant reason for our suffering. It is so we will understand Christ's suffering on our behalf more fully. The more we understand his suffering -- which usually doesn't occur until we go through our own -- the more we see His love and in turn grow in our love for him and what he did for us. For a further discussion on this click here.
Another reason may simply be that we become more compassionate for the suffering of others which enables us to better love our neighbor as ourselves. This too is a present benefit.
But note, none of these benefits necessarily improve our circumstances but they do give us hope and enable us to persevere in our challenges with joy.
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Grace to you
Jim Deal