“That I may know him,
and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death“ Philippians 3:10
Feeling sorry for yourself and joining the Lord
in the Fellowship of His Suffering are not the same
Saying in your heart: “woe is me for I am suffering”
is not embracing it, looking to God in suffering
joining with Jesus in suffering
to learn to fellowship in His suffering
is what we should all strive for,
to allow the purpose of the suffering to be revealed,
the ability to worship God and allow the fire to bring us to Him
and join in or fellowship in suffering
Paul was able to attain the appreciation of suffering:
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Philippians 4:11
God sees suffering and even pain much differently than we do
Joining Him in suffering unto death,
even the death of the flesh is difficult to do
Job was probably the most famous account
of fellowship of His suffering in the Lord in the Bible
There were several who suffered and those whom we can relate to
but Job had a whole book in the bible about him
and it mainly focused on his suffering
Job had his comforters who got it wrong,
even his wife got it wrong, but Job got it right
In Job Chapter one, We see that Satan goes before God
and tells God how protected Job is:
But put forth thine hand now,
and touch all that he hath,
and he will curse thee to thy face. Job 1:11
Satan is then given power to afflict him but not to take his life.
While he was yet speaking,
there came also another, and said,
Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine
in their eldest brother’s house:
And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness,
and smote the four corners of the house,
and it fell upon the young men,
and they are dead;
and I only am escaped alone to tell thee Job 1:18-19
This news came after Job had been told
that all of his animals and servants had been killed.
He lost all that was precious to him.
This is how Job responded:
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle,
and shaved his head,
and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, Job 1:20
Yes, Job responded by worshipping the Lord.
So there was Job, who had lost it all,
except his wife,
who wasn’t much of a gift at the moment,
and he was worshiping God in the midst of his suffering
How do you know if you are feeling sorry for yourself
or actually embracing the suffering?
To answer that, we first have to understand why we might suffer:
For what glory is it, if,
when ye be buffeted for your faults,
ye shall take it patiently?
but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it,
ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 1 Peter 2:20
The Christians who were eaten by lions
during the Roman times were not written about in the bible
I’ve seen the cages that held the lions back
until the Romans put the Christians in the center of the ring
and then loosed the hungry lions to devour the Christians
Polycarp was burned by fire to kill him,
but the Lord protected him and since they couldn’t burn him,
they put a dagger to him and killed him that way
I suspect there were many who were killed for Christ’s sake
who understood the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings
who continued to worship Him even when they were being killed
Stephen surely did
While he was being stoned to death:
And they stoned Stephen,
calling upon God, and saying,
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice,
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 7:59-60
So somehow, our suffering,
which is different for each of us
is allowed to mold us,
purify us and burn away the dross in our hearts
Being able to put to death the flesh,
to take each situation as it comes
and worship the Lord in spite of how it feels
to our emotions or flesh is fellowshipping in His suffering,
that is a humbling act to accept from the Lord’s hand
whatever He sees fit
We cannot know why some people suffer more than others:
“The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.” CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain
If you haven’t read The Problem of Pain,
I highly recommend it.
CS Lewis has a good grip
on the human side of pain and suffering,
while he did not understand suffering as well as Job did,
they both accepted it,
didn’t fight against it or expect to be relieved from it,
but, instead, looked to God in it
King David was another person who suffered much
He was honest before God
I am feeble and utterly broken:
I have groaned by reason of the turmoil of my heart.
Psalm 38:8
David knew God was merciful and listened to us in our distress
after David had sinned before the Lord,
he was given a choice via the Prophet Gad:
Go and say unto David,
Thus saith the Lord,
I offer thee three things;
choose thee one of them,
that I may do it unto thee.
So Gad came to David, and told him,
and said unto him,
Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land?
or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies,
while they pursue thee?
or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land?
now advise,
and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
And David said unto Gad,
I am in a great strait:
let us fall now into the hand of the Lord;
for his mercies are great:
and let me not fall into the hand of man. 2 Samuel 24:12-14
Jesus was made perfect through sufferings.
We also will work toward perfection in Him
as we fellowship in His sufferings:
For it became him,
for whom are all things,
and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. Hebrews 2:10
Suffering humbles us,
softens our hearts,
makes us look to God,
gives us compassion for others,
reminds us to look for His coming
and reminds us that the things of this world are not important
Let us embrace the fellowship of His suffering
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18
For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance,
so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:5 NASB