Partakers of His Suffering . . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christs sufferings . . . -I Peter 4:13 KJV If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, Oh, I cant deal with that person. Why cant you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way. The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered according to the will of God (1 Peter 4:19), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know Gods purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out Gods orders through a shortcut of their own. Gods way is always the way of suffering- the way of the long road home. Are we partakers of Christs sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through- we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize- God has strengthened me and I didnt even know it! -Spurgeon
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:11:53 +0000