"Even suffering is a means of grace in the hands of God. In Judges 3:1-2 God leaves other nations in the promised land 'to teach war' to his people. As each generation confronted hostile armies, it was faced with the need to trust God for itself. Adversity tests, strengthens, and personalizes faith. SInful desires can lurk in our hearts unnoticed because those desires are neither threatened nor thwarted. But suffering stirs the calm waters of latent sinful desires. It reveals the true state of our hearts. It's God's diagnostic tool, preparing the way for the medicine of gospel truth. Deuteronomy 8:2 says, 'You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart.' Horatius Bonar comments:
'The trial did not create the evil: it merely brought out what was there already, unnoticed and unfelt, like a torpid adder. Then the heart's deep fountains were broken up, and streams of pollution came rushing out, black as Hell...Even so it is with the saints still. God chastens them that He may draw forth the evil that is lying concealed and unsuspected within...When calamity breaks over them like a tempest, then the hidden evils of their heart awakens.'
So suffering always presents us with a choice.
We can get frustrated, angry, bitter, or despondent as our desire for control, success, love, or health gets threatened. Or we can take hold of God in a new way, finding our joy in him and comfort in his promises."
From You Can Change by Tim Chester
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