Suffering, like many other things, comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Suffering can be relatively light, like the daily frustration we all face. Suffering can also be moderate, things we all experience occasionally. But suffering can be severe as well. This is the kind of suffering that most people experience only rarely, but when they do, it changes their lives forever. They mark time and the stages of their lives by those events. As believers in Jesus Christ, we must know and trust that God is with us in all these seasons of suffering. He walks with us through them and administers the needed healing mercies for each one. Part of his kindness and presence with us during these painful moments is to help us come to some measure of understanding of our adversity. We will never understand them exhaustively, but we can gain some grasp of what the Lord is doing, even if that knowledge is sometimes somewhat unsatisfactory. We always want more.
Previous Articles in Series: The Gift of Suffering I – The Gift of Suffering II – The Gift of Suffering III – The Gift of Suffering IV
The Bible assures us that every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights (James 1:17). These gifts are many, and they are all a blessing. But one of the most surprising and most unexpected gifts from God is the gift of suffering. We read in Philippians 1:29 that as well as receiving the gift of believing in Christ, all believers receive the gift of suffering for his sake. What makes suffering a gift is not the pain we suffer but the purpose God works in our lives through the suffering. This article is the fifth of six on the gift of suffering. Here, we think about the divine gift that suffering teaches obedience.
We find the biblical teaching that suffering teaches obedience revealed in Hebrews 5:8, “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.” This verse is referring to Jesus and the suffering faced and the obedience he learned from that suffering. This verse does not imply that Jesus was disobedient in any way or that he would not have been obedient had he not suffered. It does teach that in his humanity, Jesus learned from his suffering and that suffering fortified his obedience. This verse speaks of the life of Jesus, but does it therefore apply to the followers of Jesus? Yes, the followers of Jesus are to be like Jesus. He is called the author and finisher of their faith (Hebrews 12:2). God designed that suffering would teach obedience to the followers of Jesus as it did to Jesus. Suffering has a didactic function in the life of believers in Jesus Christ, and its pedagogic goal is obedience to the will of God.
Obedience to the will of God is critical to success and blessing in the Christian life. All true believers want to be obedient to God, but there are two problems. The first problem is that we do not always know what God’s will is. The second problem is that we do not always want to do the will of God, even if we know what it is. Obedience must overcome both these problems. Suffering is uniquely situated by God to help us overcome these problems. Suffering humbles us and forces us to look to God for help. As we suffer in the world, we learn two lessons. First, we learn that God is with us in our suffering when we turn to him. Suffering may cause us to move away from God, or the pain of suffering may simply distract us from our focus on God. So suffering teaches us to turn to him. Second, we learn by suffering that by living a life of obedience, we find our pain lessened and happening less often. Disobedience to the will of God has its natural consequences, and those consequences are often painful. When we live in joyful obedience to the will of God, we find that suffering less often visits our lives, and when it does, we are better equipped to handle it. That realization deepens our desire to live obediently to the Lord. In this way, suffering is teaching us obedience. God is very gracious to us in allowing just the right amount of suffering into our lives. He always knows what is best. We do not enjoy suffering, but it is for our good. In the painful grip of suffering, it may not seem that it is good for us, but it is. The obedient life is a blessing to all who pursue it. Those who learn well the lessons that suffering teaches obedience will live an obedient life to the glory of God.