Living Without Worry, J. R. Miller
This 5 minute devotional is about God’s purposes in sending affliction, suffering, pain…into His children’s lives.
The following points are highlights of this devotional message from Miller’s book, Living Without Worry:
- Sooner or later, all Christians experience affliction, sorrow…from the hand of God; therefore, we need to have true views about why God sends it
- We ought also to know how to endure suffering such that we might receive the blessing it holds
- Scripture tells us that suffering is from God and it is to increase our holiness – through much tribulation, we must enter into the kingdom of God
- Even after we’re born again, much evil remains in us; the discipline of pain is required to cleanse our nature
- Tribulation is God’s threshing to separate what is heavenly and spiritual from what is earthly and fleshly
- Evil clings strongly, even to the godly: “The golden weed of godliness is so wrapped up in the strong chaff of the flesh that only the heavy flail of suffering can produce the separation”
- Godly character can never be attained but through suffering
- Holiness cannot be reached without cost
- God intends, via suffering to make us more Christ-like
- In whatever form suffering comes to us, God’s purpose is merciful – to purify us for the heavenly life
- Suffering develops in us qualities of Christian character that cannot be developed otherwise
- From Romans 5: …we rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. 3Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…
- However, suffering and affliction does not always improve people, it may harden them
- Afflictions must be received as God’s messengers; when we receive them in faith, they disclose to us their intent: reverently, as sent from a loving God; with faith, one can be assured that they contain a blessing
- God designs to burn off some sins from us via every fire He calls us through
- One who murmurs under God’s chastening hand is not made better by it
- The true aim of suffering is to get from it more purity of soul, greater revelation of God’s face; more love of Christ; deeper joy; greater holiness and fresh strength for obedience and all duty
For more information about why God sends suffering and how to receive it, a book, The Afflicted Man’s Companion, by Rev. John Willison says a lot and is an easy read. It is available at Amazon
Also, from this site, a portion of Calvin’s Institutes for the Christian Religion wherein he talks about divine Providence: https://sheeplywolves.com/divine-providence-john-calvins-institutes-of-the-christian-religion-chapters-16-and-17/