When we suffer it is hard to do anything, much less try to find the positive side of suffering!

Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant [me] the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. {Job 6:8-10 KJV}

For the past several months I have been falling asleep to the Word of God playing over my computer speakers in the form of an audio book. I’ve been doing this because my house doesn’t have any sound proofing what-so-ever and I live in a small country town with loud trucks and just 2 blocks from a very busy railroad track with 4 crossing within half a mile. The audio book plays all night while I sleep in order to drown out the sounds of the city. As a result, I have been experiencing some of the most profound and wonderful sleep I’ve ever had.

Now this post isn’t about the bible playing at night, which I’ll get into that in another post eventually, but what happened last night, or maybe this morning, I can’t tell, is the result of hearing the Word of God in my sleep while subconsciously thinking about my brothers suffering. So this article is for you brother! I know you’ve been going through some difficult and hard times lately, but more so, suffering and pain have been a regular part of your entire life, but last night I realized that there is a way to find peace in your suffering!

This leads to the verse at the top of this post which is basically the core of the revelation obtained while asleep.

This scripture in Job appears very early in his suffering, just after and in response to Eliphaz, who was basically telling Job that he was suffering because of something Job did. But you and I and anyone who has ever read the book of Job knows that Job was suffering because God and Satan were dealing with some things in Heaven. God was proving to Satan and to everyone else who would ever read the bible that it is possible for men to suffer, not only possible but even required, and that suffering really sucks, but God’s chosen people will overcome!

But this probably isn’t what’s happening to you and me and most of the rest of the other people in the world is it?

Most of us are suffering because of our sin! We suffer because we failed to uphold the law of God and therefore must be punished. We suffer because we failed to uphold the law of man. We suffer because we break our own rules. But I can’t help but wonder; how much of our own suffering do we create ourselves? Are we really being punished by God, or are we punishing ourselves?

There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief. {Proverbs 12:21 KJV}

The word “evil” mentioned here is very interesting. Notice how it is translated affliction, mourning and sorrow?

So it could be phrased, There shall no affliction, mourning or sorrow happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief… So here is our evidence, that the righteous are much less likely to suffer, but for the wicked it is guaranteed. So why are we suffering? It’s probably because of our sin, but is there a solution? Of course, all we have to do is quit sinning. lol Easier said than done huh?

This makes me wonder; Do I really want to reduce my suffering in the first place, and if so, how can I accomplish this?

I can’t help but think that maybe I need the suffering. Maybe this suffering is the only thing keeping me from going to hell. Maybe this suffering is good for me. But at the same time, and based on the knowledge mentioned above, it seems like most of the suffering can be avoided by living a more righteous life. But how can we do this?

I think the answer ultimately boils down to forcing ourselves to forget about our own lives and try to focus more on building up the lives of the people around us!

When I think back to the times in Georgia when I was working with the homeless shelters and churches in the area I feel as though I really wasn’t very depressed. I was sober, working a lot, volunteering at the shelter, building the community garden, trying to start a prison ministry, etc. I was so busy all the time and most of the things I was doing involved helping others. Thinking back, those were some of the best years of my life. Yes there were bad days and yes I was still living in sin, but I was fighting it. I was trying to develop a clean thought life, help others, share the gospel, and spend as much time with God as possible and as a result I just don’t remember being very depressed and pretty much had all my needs met which resulted in very little suffering.

So long story short, I think that most of our suffering is the result of our decisions to sin, and if we can somehow learn to stop sinning and start living a live dedicated to God and loving and helping others, we should be able to fill our days with peace and as a result suffering will flee!

Hope this helps brother! Love ya!