Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of the Author of the Bible. He has given us in His Word all that we need. I’m so thankful for this study on praying during suffering. It has been sobering and encouraging, instructive and guiding for me. While I don’t suddenly incorporate all these categories into my prayers as often or as thoroughly as I would like, the study has definitely affected my praying. I trust that it has been a blessing to you on some level as well. Below is the final section.
Category Twelve - Preparation for Service
The previous category was about spiritual profit. While
suffering is one of God’s prime tools for bringing maturity, it is also one of
His prime tools in preparation for service. Many of God’s servants have been
prepared through prolonged or repeated suffering. That has often included
lengthy delays even in their service, when they were willing to serve
immediately. I thought of five Biblical examples of men who showed some
readiness to serve, but God delayed the timing of their ministry and lubricated
the wait with suffering.
Jesus engaged in His Father’s business in the temple at age twelve, but His primary ministry was delayed for twelve more years. In the meanwhile, He willingly endured the limitations of a human body and the misunderstanding of His family. He was taught and prepared by the Father as He learned obedience through suffering.
After his conversion, Paul was ready to preach the gospel. He immediately began speaking out for God in Damascus and Jerusalem. God had other plans, and He whisked Paul away to the solitude of the desert for three years of intense training.
Joseph understood through dreams that God had something special for him, and he obediently did what was asked of him. His role as deliverer, however, didn’t come until after thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment and an additional ten years before he was reunited with his family.
Moses was ready to start delivering Israel, but his early attempts didn’t go well. God sent him to the desert for forty years, watching sheep and removed from everyone he had known. Only then was he ready to serve.
Early after the exodus from Egypt, Joshua was assisting Moses in various ways. His time of leadership, however, had to wait until after forty years of wilderness wandering, which was in no way his own fault.
Whether or not it involves delays, suffering is valuable in preparing us to serve others. “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. … And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation” (II Corinthians 1:4,6). God does not intend that what He teaches us and does in us would stop with us.
Any time we go through a time of suffering, we learn much. We learn about human nature, about human limitations, and about the peculiarities of human struggle and response in a particular aspect of life. We also learn about how God molds our human nature, how He strengthens our weakness, and how He provides the victory. When we exit the time of suffering, we understand things that we never did before, or we grow in what we already knew. God intends for this growth to be used to help others who are also suffering. He has prepared us to be more effective in ministering.
“How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality” (II Corinthians 8:2). The churches in Macedonia were suffering financially. As they understood the difficulties of that status, they were concerned to help others in the same situation. This certainly agrees with the previous verse, as it indicates a compassion and ability regarding a shared aspect of suffering. What is amazing about these churches is that they did not wait until they were completely past their own suffering before they reached out to others. Even in the midst of their difficulty, their compassionate hearts caused them to reach out to others who were also in need.
“But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention” (I Thessalonians 2:2). Paul and Silas had a rough time in Philippi, (as well as in many other places). It would have been easy for Paul to think he had suffered enough. It would have been easy for him to be reserved and cautious in order to avoid more suffering. Paul didn’t do that. In each new place, he continued to minister, even when opposition arose there as well. When one has suffered much, there is the temptation to pull back- to stop ministering, to cease reaching out, especially if we feel like no one really helped us much in our time of suffering. Time for recovery and healing is natural, and sometimes a reduced ministry or a temporary hiatus is necessary. What we can’t do, however, is decide never to serve again.
“Father, help me to be patient to wait as long as You determine until I am more fully prepared to step into the roles You have for me. May I learn all that You want me to learn so that I am prepared to more effectively minister to others. Help me to resolve to do so, and give me opportunities even now to be a blessing to someone. As I move through and out of this time of suffering, let not my heart grow cold or unwilling regarding service to others.”
God bless you. Have a good week.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
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