Nothing Wasted

Nothing Wasted

Read: Jeremiah 17:7-8; Job 1-3, 31:1-11, 38-40; Psalm 52:8-9

If the goal of our suffering is spiritual maturity, how do we know when we’ve reached our goal? On one hand, we never arrive; no matter how strong we are, we can always improve. However, there are benchmarks we can use to assess our progress.

Re-read Jeremiah 17:7-8. What a picture of the strong Christian enduring hardship! This tree is flourishing and fruitful even during long droughts. Does flourishing fruitfulness mark your life even through difficulty? 

Re-read Galatians 5:22. 

These character qualities may mark our lives on good days, but what arises when the bottom drops out of our lives? It has been said that suffering does not make our character, it reveals it. What is hardship revealing about your character?

Re-read Philippians 4:6-8. 

When hard days wash over your life, what character traits surface? Do anxiety and fretfulness drag you down or do you rise on the wind currents of thankfulness, prayerfulness, and peace?

Any serious discussion on suffering would be incomplete without mentioning Job—the poster boy for suffering. Though he lost everything of earthly significance, he lost nothing of eternal value. He was forced to sort through his suffering with the “help” of well-meaning friends. He felt the gamut of emotions just as we do—and took them

to God who showed Himself faithful. However, God never answered Job’s “why” questions. Job fought the battle between acceptance and despair, and with God’s help, acceptance won the day. Job sat in the schoolroom

of suffering, learning the hard lessons he could learn no other way. He did the hard work of grappling with His Maker through gut-wrenching questions coming full circle to worship once again in humility and reverent wonder. Job emerged from God’s crucible purified, humbled, and a true worshipper of God. He worshipped the God who had met him with grace in his darkest moments and yet leveled him in His Sovereignty.

Respond

How can we, like Job, find our Maker in this whirlwind of pain and suffering? Where are you on this journey? Wherever you are, cry out to Jesus and He will come for you. Spend some time focusing and prayerfully meditating on this passage from Psalm 147.