The Fellowship of Suffering

“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake…”

Philippians 1:29

Suffering is not fun.  Yet, there is no doubt, in God’s word, that God often allows us to suffer.  He permits it.  In fact, He even uses suffering as part of His plan for our lives. 

How about this thought:  God has graced you, yes, even favored you, to suffer for His sake.  There is a special grace on your life to suffer.  According to my Bible note the word “granted”, used in Philippians 1:29, comes from a Greek word that means “To do a favor, show kindness unconditionally, give freely, grant forgiveness, forgive freely.  The word is from the same root for charis, ‘grace.’”

In other words, where God has allowed you to suffer, He is using it for a greater glory in your life than the glory He would receive from simply instantly fixing your problem. 

The word suffer, again from my Bible notes, comes from the Greek, pascho (“Compare ‘passion,’ ‘passive,’ ‘pathos.’”)  Suffer means to “Be acted upon in a certain way, to experience ill-treatment, roughness, violence, or outrage…to undergo evils from without.  Pascho asks the painful question, ‘What is happening to me?’” 

What is happening to me?  That simple phrase seems likely the cry of the bewildered and beleaguered soul, who, under the weight and confusion of suffering, lifts a beseeching face to the sky and cries to God, earnestly and desperately, “Why is this happening to me?”  “Why does this hurt so bad?”

Perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned and the greatest hope of our suffering is found in the suffering of Christ.  We refer to Jesus’ suffering as his passion.  In His deep and dreadful suffering we know God had a good purpose.  With reasons unclear to those around him, Jesus suffered and died and purchased our redemption. 

We need to find something good in our suffering.  One of the greatest goods I have found is the unique ability of suffering to draw me nearer to the heart of God.  The Apostle Paul prayed, “…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings…” (Philippians 3:10)  

*Bible notes from the New Spirit Filled Life Bible