Do We Always Benefit From Suffering? (August 14, 2005)

Do all bad circumstances work out for our personal good?

Some Bible verses lead Christians to believe so. St. James writes, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4). So trials help us to persevere and be mature. St. Paul writes, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). My mother always insisted, rightly, that "the good" of Romans 8:28 is defined in the next verse, "being conformed to the likeness of his Son." So in all circumstances, even bad ones, God does the good work of making those who love him to be more like Jesus.

I believe this. One qualification I would like to make explicit, however, is that it is not always our personal good that our trials and woes are bringing about. Maybe our bad circumstances are chiefly benefiting someone else.

After Joseph was nearly killed by his brothers, sold into slavery in Egypt, falsely accused of attempted rape and thrown into prison, he met up years later with these same brothers who had tried to ruin his life. By then Joseph had recovered, and, working as Pharaoh's right-hand man, administered a government food program during years of drought. He spoke graciously to his bad brothers, saying, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20). It is fitting that Joseph did not say, "God intended it for my good - now I'm rich and powerful because of what you did to me." That part seemed incidental. The main thing was that through the injustice he had experienced, starvation of the masses had been prevented.

Someday you may go through something profoundly unpleasant and it will be hard to conceive how it could ever be good for you - even in some ultimate, eternal sense. Let me encourage you to remember then that the good things that God is accomplishing in the world are not all about you. Your woes may leave you devastated, but still benefit other people in ways you could never imagine.

Missionaries Jim and Angela Beise are raising a severely handicapped child, Michael, along with their three "normal" children. But their three other children are not normal at all - they're exceptional. Angela writes, "My children are among the most unselfish people I have ever known. Brian, 19, Melissa, 17, and Rachel, 13, have made
sacrifices, too many and too big to count, for their disabled sibling. One would think that this would have made them bitter and discontented. Amazingly, it has done exactly the opposite. They are thankful, giving, and tolerant to difficult and unlovely people."

I do not know what good things God is doing in the soul of handicapped Michael. But I'll take his mother's word for it that through Michael's limitations God is perfecting his siblings. It works that way sometimes. Trials and sorrows and limitations that seem to do us no good at all might be God's perfect tools to do great good in others. We can thank him for that.