A version of this post was originally published on August 24, 2016 under the title “Is God Bragging on You?”
If we are honest, when it comes to suffering, many of us live this life believing God is waiting for an opportunity to punish us. We think He’s keeping a list of checks and balances, shaking His head and tsk-tsking every time we mess up. When life gets good, we wait for the other shoe to drop, for something to go wrong, thinking we don’t deserve whatever good we get from life. Maybe things are only good because God plans to take it all away.
As I’ve been studying the book of Job with the ladies in the Bible Study Academy, I’ve realized this was the consensus among Job’s friends, too. They believed Job lost everything, his herds, his servants, even his children, because he had stepped out of bounds and offended God. Surely, God wouldn’t punish a righteous man!
But we are told at the beginning of the book that Job was a righteous man. God described Job to Satan as a “blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job. 1:8, ESV). As readers, we have information the participants in the story didn’t have. We are privy to a conversation between God and Satan. And God used that opportunity to draw Satan’s attention to Job. God bragged on Job!
What Causes Suffering?
While it is true that we might experience suffering in our lives because of sin we have committed, that is not the only reason we might go through painful circumstances. And the account in Job shows us one reason we might suffer is because of what we are doing right. Because of Job’s faithfulness, Satan attacked him on every front in an effort to make Job turn his back on God.
What if, and stay with me here, this is the rule and not the exception? What if God brags on His children more than we realize? This does not seem so far fetched when we consider that God sees His children through the blood of Christ. Scripture does not reveal many conversations between God and Satan, so maybe the few that are revealed are meant to show us a normal exchange between them.
What if our suffering has more to do with what we are doing right than what we are doing wrong?
My dad passed away in 2017. The last few years of his life were spent battling dementia. I shared details of the disease’s progression and how it affected our family in a post I wrote before he passed. He was a man who had spent his entire life serving the Lord. He was a missionary kid who grew up to go on to Bible college and return to the mission field.
He was a pastor and professor who spent 20 years training college students to go to the mission field once God called him back to the United States. But when he should have been enjoying his retirement, his mind was dramatically impaired. We watched him leave us while he was still on this earth. My dad had spent his life communicating the Gospel to those around him, and God chose to take that ability away.
What if God allowed this suffering to show Satan who the truly faithful are? What if God said to Satan, “Have you considered my servants the Lingo family?” To which Satan replied, “If you take David away, the whole family will crumble.”
I know I have taken some liberties here, but if there is ANY chance that this was a test of my faithfulness, I will not fail! If there is ANY chance that Satan is using this suffering to show God I will not remain faithful, I will prove him wrong! If there is ANY chance that God has bragged on me, I will do Him proud! I shudder to think of the alternative.
Are You Suffering?
What about you, friend? Are you enduring suffering today? Could it be that instead of it being God’s punishment, it is actually a reward? Could it be that God bragged on you like He did Job? We may not like it, and we may not see it as a reward in this moment, but James 1:2-4 reminds us that we are to,
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
ESV
There is purpose in the suffering, and there is a glorious reward that will make the sufferings of this world seem insignificant (something we currently can’t even imagine) (Romans 8:18).
I encourage you to stay the course. Run the race you have before you even when it is hard, even when it is heartbreaking. Remain faithful to God because He will prove faithful in the end. One day I wish to stand before Him and have Him say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
If you are currently in a season of suffering or mourning, or you know someone who is, I have written a short e-book about mourning in a godly way. When I was struggling through the many facets of grief (some still ongoing), I had more questions than answers. God graciously took me through the book of Ruth during that time, which taught me some lessons about mourning, not as those who have no hope, but full of hope and peace.
To learn more about the e-book, Good Grief: Wisdom for Godly Mourning from the Book of Ruth, click the button below.
If you would like to learn more about how to study the Bible, I invite you to download my FREE Bible study workbook, 6 Steps to Study the Bible on Your Own, at the button below.
If you would like to join a group of like-minded women who are pursuing godliness together, check out the Bible Study Academy by clicking the button below.
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