by Steve Jeffries

Created on: May 11, 2009   Last Updated: May 19, 2009

"Pain Begets Gain"

This is a question asked so often by so many...We are taught in principle that God is good...and He is all loving and all powerful. So why, then, does He allow us to struggle with hardships? Why is there so much trouble all around us? One could answer that this earth is not heaven and therefore it isn't perfect. After all, isn't heaven, not earth, the promised place of rest and comfort? However, even though that is a true statement, it isn't the answer to the question we are addressing here.

To make some sense of why God's love exists in a place filled with so much pain, we might begin with yet another puzzling statement from scripture found in James 1: 2, which says: "Consider it all joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." What? How can that be explained at all? Well, the next verse provides some insight. Looking at both verses 3 & 4, we read: "because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything."

And so we have a part of the answer to our question. While God Himself does not tempt us with evil, He allows us to be disciplined by it in order to toughen us against the bombastic temptations of the devil himself. We also gain an understanding as to why hardships exist...because God wants us to know that satin will try ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to create doubt and fear within us, and to "knock us off course" from pursuing our goal...a home with our Lord in heaven! When we understand this, we can more easily persevere in this life, and thus mature in our faith.

To prove this idea even more so, consider the words found in Heb. 12:5-6. The Lord tells us: "...do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not loose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves..." For those of us who have made the genuine choice to follow God, our Lord wants us to understand what is happening around us in times of trouble, and why these things must come to pass. He wants to clarify things for us so that we will not be troubled and anxious. We can then train ourselves to lean on our Lord and Savior for comfort and strength!

Through the Hebrews writer, God sheds even more light on this topic for us. Reading from verse 7, He says: "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons...we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!" By these words, the Lord reassures us that if we can train ourselves to live by His plan of salvation, understanding and enduring hardships in this life, we can know what a PERFECT LIFE is like in heaven above!

Finally, in verse 11, our Father sums up this topic of maturity through hardships with these words: "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." It is almost unmistakable that the Lord is conveying two distinct thoughts in these verses. One: He is a loving God who cares deeply for us and knows exactly how to prepare us for our battles against satin. Two: If we know why troubles exist in this life, and realize the purpose for them, we will also learn to comfort ourselves through our hope for a perfect life in heaven one day!

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