Why Some Christians Suffer

Sometimes God calls us to suffer, believers to suffer, to show the world his glory. How can you have cancer and still have joy? It is easy to have joy when everything is going right. How can you be broke and still have hope? Because Christ is bearing witness in my spirit that I am a child of God, and this world is not all there is; stop looking to it. Our life becomes a beacon to tell the world that there is more, and they are focused on the wrong things when we suffer.

Charles Spurgeon said it well. He used to suffer from depression. I do not know if you know that. He said, one Sunday, I was locked in a dungeon of despair as I preached. He said a man came up to me afterward and said, you speak to me like you knew my own soul, and in the dungeon of despair, you pointed me to the light. Spurgeon said I could have never spoken to that man’s soul had I not been in the same dungeon in which he was laying.

Every one of our sufferings are being used by God for the good of those who love him and for his glory. I do not know what has you burdened right now. I do not know what’s keeping you up at night. I do not know how painful the experience is, but God is working it all for his glory and our good.

All of our suffering is under the loving providence of God, and he makes no mistakes. Through it all, somehow, he is preparing us for glory, and I know that the weight of this suffering that you are feeling right now, or will feel, is extremely heavy, but it can no way compare to the weight of glory in which you are going to live eventually.

One Pastor said it well. He said if you had the power of God, you would change a million things, but if you had the wisdom of God, you would not change a thing.

-D. Eaton

You can listen to the entire sermon here.
You can read the full Spurgeon quote here.