“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Romans 8:15-18
Suffering has never been my idea of the Christian life. In the past, I had this crazy idea that once I turned my life over to Jesus that things would be great! I would be healthy, I would always be happy, I would always get what I wanted. Of course, you don’t put it in those words, but that was the idea that I had.
Last night, I was worshipping with some of my wonderful roommates, and we sang the song, “Blessed be Your Name.” There is a line in the song that says, “Blessed be Your Name on the road marked with suffering. Though there’s pain in the offering, blessed be Your Name.” In this specific version, they repeated that line 4 times in a row. Each time, it hit me more and more. God is WORTHY no matter what is going on in my life! His name is to be praised. That is so much easier said than done. Especially when your health is not what it should be and your friends and family are dying and when you can’t find a job-He is still good. Not only is He worthy to be praised in our suffering, but He is using our suffering to make us more like Himself. That is even harder to swallow for me because I just assumed that when I became a believer that I would somehow be this perfect person with no more problems. What God says is that He is using the fiery trial to refine us and make us more like Himself.
So, when suffering comes, we can choose. We can choose to lift our hands, even if that is the hardest and most impossible thing and praise Him, believing that even this is going to be used for His glory. I am so glad we have a God who never lets anything, good or bad, go to waste.
