But prolonged suffering had dulled my spiritual ears. I wondered if I would ever “hear” from God again. Then one Sunday in church, my pastor preached a sermon I will never forget. He talked about the three ways God responds to our suffering:
- Sometimes God delivers us from suffering.
- Sometimes God preserves us through suffering.
- Sometimes God permits something in us to die.
God Delivers: There are times when God chooses to protect us from suffering. When the Jews sought to kill the Apostle Paul, God made a way of escape through the disciples who lowered him in a basket over a wall. (Acts 9).
God Preserves: There are times when God allows us to pass through a storm, but He preserves us intact. When the Hebrew children were thrown into the fiery furnace, the Lord shielded them so that not one hair on their heads was singed. (Daniel 3).
God Permits: There are times when God allows us to suffer “to the death” in order to create something new within us. Whether it be a deep and faulty perspective, a binding habit, an undesirable character flaw, or some aspect we cannot even imagine, God permits a part of us to “die” so that He can plant new life in its place.
Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:23-25).
That Sunday morning I finally heard from God. In my heart, I knew that I was undergoing the third response. I did not know, at that time, what in me was “dying,” but I was deeply comforted just to know that God was at work in me, and I sensed He was guiding me how to pray about my situation.
Prayer: Dear Lord, You didn’t even spare Your own Son, but allowed Him to die in order to create life in us. Just as you created the world out of nothing, I know that You can create something new out of the ashes of my life.
