1. “Do not fear the things that you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison” (Rev. 2:10; see also 1 Pet. 5:8-9; Rev. 12:12-13).
The world today is under Satan’s controlling hand. When we, as believers, live for God in this world and testify for Him, Satan uses all kinds of people, events, and things to cause us to suffer. Worldly people persecute and trouble believers, and worldly governments convict and imprison believers, because Satan is working behind the scenes. Many adverse things, such as illness and loss, also come to believers through Satan’s work. As our enemy, his intent is to cause us to suffer. He is like a roaring lion walking about the earth seeking to devour people. His anger is great, and his efforts to inflict suffering are multiplied toward us because he knows that God will deal with him through us and cause him to lose the position that he illegally usurped. He also knows that the time for his rebellion and chaos is limited. Satan’s evil intent toward us is another leading cause of sufferings.
1. “The Father of spirits...disciplined...for what is profitable” (Heb. 12:9-10).
After God saves us, He wants to perfect us by removing things from our being that we should not have and by adding things to our being that we should have. This enables us to partake of His holy nature more and more. God frequently carries out this perfecting and building work through discipline, and He frequently disciplines us through sufferings in our environment in order to render true spiritual benefit to us. Therefore, our sufferings are also related to His will.
God takes no pleasure in the painful sufferings that His discipline may involve, but He is our Father, and He knows our condition and need. Since our condition requires discipline, His love for us compels Him to discipline us for our benefit. When a father is forced to discipline his child, he often suffers as much as the child. The discipline of a child, however, is for the child’s benefit and correction. Furthermore, some children require much discipline, whereas other children do not require as much discipline. However, regardless of whether the amount of discipline is great or small, every child requires some discipline. God treats us, His children, in the same way. Some of us do not need much discipline from God, and some must be disciplined more. Regardless of our condition, we all need God’s discipline, and so for our benefit, God disciplines us as He sees fit. Although He does not do this happily, His discipline is related to His good will. Consequently, believers experience suffering from discipline that is according to God’s will.
As children of God, we must know that the sufferings that come to us are related to God’s discipline. All the sufferings and problems we encounter, regardless of whether they are from the natural world or Satan, are permitted to come to us by God for the sake of our discipline. We should not consider any suffering that comes to us as natural, spontaneous, or coincidental; we must see that all sufferings are arranged and permitted by God. The Lord Jesus said that two sparrows, which are sold for an assarion, cannot fall to the earth apart from the will of God, and He said that the hairs of our head have not only been counted but also numbered (Matt. 10:29-30). Since God pays attention to such small matters, how could anything happen to us without God’s permission and arrangement? God not only loves His children, but He also is very wise. His will for us is expressed through His wisdom according to His love, and He permits us to encounter sufferings that will discipline and benefit us. His good will, which is carried out for us according to His love and in His wisdom, is a source of sufferings.
The sufferings that are related to man’s fall and the sufferings that are related to Satan’s evil intent and malicious acts are used by God to discipline His children according to His good will. Through His love and in His wisdom the sufferings brought in by man’s fall and by Satan’s malicious acts are used by God as a means to perfect His children. We should be thankful and worship Him.
Sufferings bring many kinds of blessings to the believers because God uses sufferings not only to discipline us but also to perfect us. The Bible speaks much about this, but we will examine only the important benefits below.
1. “That you may be tried” (Rev. 2:10; see also Matt. 13:21).
Sufferings cause us to be tried, and being tried purifies us, just as fire purifies gold. After being saved, there are many extraneous things in our inward being that must pass through the trials of sufferings in order to be eliminated. Believers who pass through many sufferings often are quite pure. Many pure saints have come out of the furnace of sufferings.
The trials of sufferings not only purify us by eliminating negative things in our being, but they also strengthen us and solidify the positive spiritual things in our being. When we hear a spiritual message and receive some light concerning spiritual matters, it may seem that we have obtained these things. In reality, however, they have not been constituted into our life and living to become part of our very being. When we pass through trials, these things are constituted into us, and they strengthen us and become solidified in our being. This can be compared to a potter who draws patterns on a clay vase and then puts the vase into a fire to make the patterns part of the vase and to strengthen and solidify the patterns. Similarly, the teachings that we have received can be strengthened and solidified in our being when we pass through trials. The Lord’s word in Matthew 13:21 concerning passing through trials after hearing the word refers to this process. If we are not stumbled by the trials that come after hearing the word, the word will become something solid in us.
2. “The proving of your faith” (1 Pet. 1:7; James 1:3).
The most valuable part of the believers’ living and work before God is faith, and our faith must be proved by passing through sufferings in order for its preciousness to be manifested. The proving of our faith through sufferings is much more precious than the proving of gold that passes through fire. According to the translation of 1 Peter 1:7 into Chinese, our faith, which is proved by sufferings, is what is more precious than gold proved by fire, but the original Greek speaks of “the proving” of our faith as being much more precious than the proving of gold by fire. This verse does not mean our faith, which has been proved by sufferings, is more precious than gold that has been proved with fire; rather, it says that the proving of our faith by sufferings is more precious than the proving of gold by fire. This proving is related to passing through sufferings and can be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; therefore, it is precious.
James says that the proving of our faith works out endurance. Endurance is not something that we have naturally; it comes from the proving of our faith associated with our passing through sufferings. In order for our faith to be enduring and long-suffering, it must be proved; that is, it must pass through sufferings. Just as sufferings cause our being to have endurance, they also fill our faith with endurance.
3. “That we might partake of His holiness...It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:10-11).
Sufferings have a great function with respect to the believers in that they cause the believers to partake of God’s holiness, and they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Holiness is God’s nature, and righteousness is God’s actions according to His ways. Peace means being in harmony with both God and man. When we inwardly partake of God’s holy nature, we outwardly have righteous actions that are according to God’s ways, and these actions enable us to be in harmony with God and man and to thus have peace. The more we are constituted with God’s holy nature, the more we will act in accordance with His ways and the more we will be in harmony with God and man. However, after we are saved, there are still many things in our being that are not compatible with God’s holy nature, and we do many things that are not according to God’s righteous ways. This makes it difficult for us to be in harmony with God and man and to have peace. Therefore, God uses sufferings to discipline and deal with us. Sufferings eliminate what is not according to God’s holy nature. Then as we inwardly partake of His holy nature more and more, our outward actions will increasingly be in accord with God’s righteous ways; thus, we will be in harmony with God and man and have peace. This beautiful, sweet result is produced through sufferings.
4. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, / That I might learn Your statutes” (Psa. 119:71).
Our natural man is loose and wild, and it has no understanding of God’s statutes. Although we have been saved and have become God’s people, we still indulge ourselves according to our own will. We have little regard for His statutes or His ways. Therefore, God allows us to be afflicted so that we would learn His statutes. Sufferings experientially teach us God’s statutes so that we can be governed by these statutes instead of by our looseness and lawlessness.
5. “Though the Lord has given you / The bread of adversity and the water of oppression, / Your Teacher will no longer hide Himself in a corner, / But your eyes will see your Teacher. / And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, / This is the way, walk in it” (Isa. 30:20-21).
Often we do not want to accept God’s teaching or leading. Therefore, God gives us the bread of adversity to eat and the water of oppression to drink so that we would be taught through our sufferings. When we are in a natural condition of comfort, it is hard to accept the Lord’s teaching and leading. However, when we encounter difficulties and sufferings, it is easier for us to accept His teaching and leading. Thus, our sufferings become a “Teacher” to teach us how to follow the Lord’s leading.
Some brothers cannot receive God’s teaching or leading, no matter how much they are exhorted with God’s Word; they simply do not want to leave the way that they have chosen for themselves. But when they experience sufferings, they immediately receive God’s Word, accepting its teachings and the Lord’s leading. Sufferings are always precious and effective in helping us to accept God’s teaching and leading.
6. “I will now hedge up / Her way with thorns; / And I will build up a wall against her”; “Bit and bridle to restrain them” (Hosea 2:6; Psa. 32:9).
We are stiff-necked, often taking our own way and being unwilling to change our ways. God, therefore, uses sufferings as thorns to hedge up our way and to build a wall against us. Whenever we come up against such a wall and cannot go forward, we are forced to change our direction. God also uses sufferings, like the bit and bridle for a horse, in order to restrain us and make us obedient so that we cannot move in an unruly manner. Sufferings prevent us from going the wrong way and from doing things that offend God.
More than ten years ago in northern China, there was a co-worker who wanted to labor in a rural area, but the co-workers did not feel that this was the Lord’s leading. Still he insisted on going. When we escorted him to the edge of the city, there was a sudden announcement by soldiers that the roads had been closed and that no one could leave. When we suggested that we turn around and go back, this brother was reluctant, and he stood firmly at an intersection in order to discuss the matter. As he approached us to talk with us, his bicycle hit and damaged the light of an automobile. Then I said, “Brother, are you still considering whether or not to go? Why do you refuse to come back? After encountering these misfortunes, why are you still unclear?” He could say nothing in response to this, and so he came home with us. All the co-workers believed that the Lord hedged up his way so that he would not fall into error. The Lord frequently uses unfavorable environments and troubles to hedge us in and block our way so that we do not take the wrong path and fall into error.
7. “Before I was afflicted, I went astray” (Psa. 119:67).
In this verse the psalmist says that before he was afflicted, he went astray. It also means that after being afflicted, he was able to avoid going astray. Sufferings often cause us to turn back after we have gone astray. There was a brother among us who strayed from the Lord twice after he was saved, and both times the Lord used extreme sufferings to bring him back to the proper way. Sufferings not only bring us back from going astray but also keep us from leaving the proper path.
8. “Being judged by the Lord, we are disciplined that we may not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:32).
Many times when worldly people sin, God seemingly ignores it, but when believers commit the same sin, God immediately deals with it. He often uses illnesses to discipline us so that we would not be condemned with the world. If God did not discipline us in this way, we would be condemned with the world (Luke 12:46; see the section “The Coming Discipline,” ch. 48, pp. 921-944). Thus, the discipline of sufferings can enable us to escape the coming condemnation and punishment.
9. “(Because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin), no longer to live the rest of the time in the flesh in the lusts of men, but in the will of God” (1 Pet. 4:1-2).
Sufferings enable people to cease from sin, to no longer follow the lusts of men, and to live in the will of God. After man fell, God ordained that he would suffer, because sufferings can impose harsh restraints upon men so that they would cease from sin. If there were no sufferings in the human life, a person could live his entire life in the pursuit of his own enjoyment and pleasure. Such a person would be sinful in the extreme. Whenever a person is able to live in his own comfort and enjoyment, it is easy to commit sins. David committed his great sin when he was at rest (2 Sam. 11:2-4). Rest, leisure, free time, pleasures, and entertainment all cause people to sin, and in the same way, suffering, labor, burdens, pressure, and troubles cause people to cease from sin. Many brothers who have terrible tempers and who indulge their lusts need to experience the discipline of suffering before they can cease from sinning and from following the lusts of their flesh. In this regard, sufferings are a very good thing.
10. “Comforts us in all our affliction” (2 Cor. 1:4, see also v. 7).
Sufferings also cause us to receive the Lord’s comforting. We can receive the Lord’s comforting only when we are suffering for Him. The more we participate in the sufferings of Christ, the more we will enjoy His comforting. If we never shed tears for the Lord, we can never experience the precious comfort that comes from His wiping away our tears. Many times the tears that we shed for the Lord are His sweet inward comfort to us.
11. “That we may be able to comfort those who are in every affliction through the comforting with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:4, see also v. 6).
Sufferings also enable us to comfort others. When we suffer and are comforted by the Lord, we gain capital with which to comfort others. We often are able to comfort those who are in every affliction because of the sufferings that we have passed through and the scars we have received. If we would be those who can comfort others, we must experience sufferings ourselves.
12. “Tribulation produces endurance; and endurance, approvedness; and approvedness, hope” (Rom. 5:3-4; see also James 1:3).
Tribulation produces endurance, endurance produces approvedness, and approvedness produces hope. If we want endurance, approvedness, and hope, we must experience sufferings. This is the reason believers receive sufferings when they ask for endurance. God allows sufferings because only tribulation can produce endurance, only endurance can produce approvedness, and only approvedness produces hope. When an immature believer encounters troubles, he easily becomes bothered and disappointed; in contrast, experienced believers can maintain a steadfast hope when they encounter troubles. But this kind of approvedness comes only from endurance gained through sufferings. Therefore, if we want the hope that comes from approvedness, we must experience the sufferings that produce endurance.
13. “God..., after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you” (1 Pet. 5:10).
God perfects, establishes, strengthens, and grounds us through sufferings. After we pass through sufferings, we receive God’s perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding. This is the reason that believers who have suffered are perfected, established, strengthened, and grounded.
14. “Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).
God furthers the decaying of our outer, natural, old man and the renewing of our inner man through sufferings. It is not enough merely to have doctrines or even light. Our outer man must be allowed to decay through sufferings so that our inner man can be renewed day by day.
15. “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10).
If we would know Christ and the power of His resurrection and if we would be conformed to His death, we must experience sufferings together with Him. Only sufferings can cause us to practically experience Christ, to experience the power of His resurrection, to know the fellowship of His sufferings, and to be conformed to His death.
16. “That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11).
Sufferings cause us to practically experience the Lord’s death, and they also cause the Lord’s life to be manifested in our mortal flesh.
17. “All things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:28).
Sufferings are the main component of the things that work together for our good. Sufferings work with all things for our good, and according to the next verse, this good is our conformation to the image of God’s Son. The Holy Spirit inwardly conforms us to the image of Christ through our outward sufferings. Therefore, sufferings are necessary if we want to be conformed to Christ.
18. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or anguish?” (Rom. 8:35, see also vv. 38-39).
Sufferings also cause us to experience the love of Christ from which we cannot be separated. It is only through tribulation and anguish that we truly come to know that we cannot be separated from the love of Christ. In our sufferings we truly taste the flavor of His love and understand its power.
19. “Blessed are you...for your reward is great in the heavens” (Matt. 5:11-12).
Suffering for the Lord also causes us to receive a heavenly reward, a reward that is great in the heavens. No one who suffers for the Lord suffers in vain; all who suffer for Him will receive a reward for their sufferings. Our coming reward is based on our suffering today.
20. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt. 5:10; see also Acts 14:22; 2 Thes. 1:5; Rev. 1:9).
Suffering also causes us to obtain the kingdom of the heavens. We must experience much suffering and endure many tribulations for the sake of the kingdom of God. We must pass through these troubles with the Lord before we can enter the kingdom of the heavens and obtain the kingdom.
21. “Affliction works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17; see also Rom. 8:17-18).
Sufferings also work out an eternal weight of glory for us, which we will obtain in the future. If we want to be in glory with the Lord, we must suffer with Him. We must be willing to take the way of sufferings in order to obtain glory.