Suffering, God's tool

God only allows into our lives what will help conform us to the image of Christ.


It was just one of those lines in the middle of a sermon, but I couldn't write it down fast enough. All of a sudden, suffering came into focus. Admittedly, I had struggled with the goodness of God, in the face of suffering and prayer....all those verses that I've been told work - the ones about keep asking, keep knocking, and God will give in and give you what you want. Well, they didn't say it exactly that way, but you get the idea. Or, if you don't get what you ask for, there is something wrong with how you are asking.

Anyway, I struggled with all of that. Sometimes I had a clear answer to prayer. Sometimes I got what I asked for, but meantime, a lot of people I care about kept suffering. I couldn't figure out for sure what was going on. Certainly I knew God knew what was best. And I did pray that God's will be done. I do know that suffering is sometimes a trust, that God knows certain people have been gifted with the faith and strength to honor Him through the battle and will glorify Him, but I just struggled with the why sometimes.

Then I heard those words: God only allows into our lives what will help conform us to the image of Christ. And it struck me about how little attention we pay to God, how shallow and fast are our prayers, when everything is going well. And it also struck me about how far I am from the target of being conformed to the image of Christ.

Suffering does give us the opportunity to change all of that. It boils down to two choices - become bitter and blame God, or seek His face for comfort and strength - and even to understand why. I'm not sure that is a bad thing, the wondering why, but I wonder if that should be a reflexive search. I should examine myself for the possibilities that might be reasonable realities for why God would allow this challenge into my life.

Perhaps sometimes, the suffering is a direct result of poor choices I have made. But just maybe it is a tool God will use to make me just a little bit more like Christ. Anyway, I was comforted by those words: God only allows into our lives what will help conform us to the image of Christ.