SUFFERING: NOT EVEN CHRIST JESUS WAS EXEMPT FROM IT...

People of good FAITH suffer horrible things too! Suffering IS part, and parcel to time on this Earth, and our LORD *GOD* ALSO, suffered, in ways far worse than we will ever know! WHY is there suffering? Because this beautiful globe IS corrupt, having fallen into wickedness, and every kind of evil, via the enemy, and his intent---

There ARE MANY references to suffering in THE BIBLE, the world IS full of tribulations, and we ARE vulnerable to what works against *GOD*, and us! Suffering HAS been with us since the first couple erred in 'the garden', and has continued BECAUSE we are prone to worldly ways OVER HIS *GOD*LY WILL! We took the ferocious bite of sin, and it's venom has had long lasting, far reaching effects...

It is especially painful to see people who devote their existence to *GOD*, suffer, as it is to reason with those who lose FAITH, or those who denounce it, due to suffering, yet, it is common to this plane, and NOT EVEN CHRIST JESUS was exempt from it, and so, we have NEED to understand by means of knowledge, HOW to RETAIN the PEACE which THE LORD, and FAITH grant us! We HAVE to come to terms with suffering, and to WITHSTAND it, regardless of it's horrendous effects, and damaging wake! NOT easy for us, still, imperative IF we are to REMAIN IN HIM, THAT HE REMAINS IN us!!!

Like anything else, there are varying levels, and layers to suffering; some are more easy to overcome, others feel like they gutted us! EACH suffering IS a testing OF our FAITH, and FAITHFULNESS, and as is written, is NOTHING compared to the ultimate GLORY we shall share in! NO human WORDS can diminish the agony of suffering, HOWEVER *GOD'S* WORD CAN, and WILL IF we are OPEN TO it, and TO ALLOWING HIM TO HEAL us, guide us, direct us, protect us, and lead us! As I read through Scripture concerning suffering, I am reminded that *GOD* WILL carry us through them all, and just how common it IS for us TO face tests, trials, and tribulations! As difficult as it is at times, we MUST LOOK TO *GOD* FOR what WILL move us through the afflictions, as HE restores, and renews us; yah, DEFINITELY difficult in those times when we are stricken like never before, yet, NOTHING else, and NO ONE CAN help us, save for THE LORD *GOD* ALMIGHTY!!!

JAMES 1: 12...
Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 

It is not every man who suffers, that is blessed; but he who with patience and constancy goes through all difficulties in the way of duty. Afflictions cannot make us miserable, if it be not our own fault. The tried Christian shall be a crowned one. The crown of life is promised to all who have the love of God reigning in their hearts. 

Every soul that truly loves God, shall have its trials in this world fully recompensed in that world above, where love is made perfect. The commands of God, and the dealings of his providence, try men's hearts, and show the dispositions which prevail in them. But nothing sinful in the heart or conduct can be ascribed to God. He is not the author of the dross, though his fiery trial exposes it. Those who lay the blame of sin, either upon their constitution, or upon their condition in the world, or pretend they cannot keep from sinning, wrong God as if he were the author of sin. Afflictions, as sent by God, are designed to draw out our graces, but not our corruptions. The origin of evil and temptation is in our own hearts. Stop the beginnings of sin, or all the evils that follow must be wholly charged upon us.  

God has no pleasure in the death of men, as he has no hand in their sin; but both sin and misery are owing to themselves. As the sun is the same in nature and influences, though the earth and clouds, often coming between, make it seem to us to vary, so God is unchangeable, and our changes and shadows are not from any changes or alterations in him. What the sun is in nature, God is in grace, providence, and glory; and infinitely more. As every good gift is from God, so particularly our being born again, and all its holy, happy consequences come from him. A true Christian becomes as different a person from what he was before the renewing influences of Divine grace, as if he were formed over again. We should devote all our faculties to God's service, that we may be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.

We have choices all the while, whether in suffering, or not, TO EMBRACE *GOD* FULLY, THAT our sufferings are NOT IN VAIN, and WILL NOT overtake us! Rarely does anyone put blame on the actual reason(s) we suffer, instead, more put it on *GOD*! THIS IS NOT OUR HOME, this is a dangerous, volatile, trying sphere of discord, dissension, delusion, and overall negativity, and so, our MINDSET SHOULD be that we, no matter what, KEEP our sights, hearts, and minds ON *GOD*, especially when it is likely we will waver from what most affects us! We MUST learn to ACCEPT that this IS a treacherous valley, and we are NOT safe WITHOUT THE LORD, and that troubles WILL be ever near, therefore, we have SOME semblance of understanding that we WILL be tried, AS we ARE being perfected, partly, because the enemy WANTS ALL to fail...

As Children of *GOD*, as members of THE CHURCH, we aim to AID one another in our sufferings, and to support one another, as we PRAY, PRAISE, WORSHIP, and REJOICE THAT *GOD* IS WITH US, and that HIS WILL WORKS FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, DESPITE all the gloom, and destruction which plans to trip, and trap us...

We cry, we wail, we hurt, we FEEL the weight of the obstacles this world puts upon us, STILL, we ARE FREE IN THE LORD *GOD*, PRAISE, and BLESS HIM, ALWAYS, EVEN when it seems the hardest thing to do! NO ONE is exempt from suffering, and THIS IS WHY WE NEED HIM, and EACH OTHER, as WE, IN HIS LOVE, GRACE, and MERCY, attend to one another IN HIS WILL, THAT we are NOT lost TO the endless hardships of this realm!!!

LET US NEVER FORGET THE SUFFERING SERVANT!!!
ISAIAH 53...
1+++Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2+++For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3+++He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4+++Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5+++But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
6+++All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
7+++He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
8+++By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9+++His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10+++But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11+++As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
12+++Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.

No where in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied, that Christ ought to suffer, and then to enter into his glory, as in this chapter. But to this day few discern, or will acknowledge, that Divine power which goes with the word. The authentic and most important report of salvation for sinners, through the Son of God, is disregarded. The low condition he submitted to, and his appearance in the world, were not agreeable to the ideas the Jews had formed of the Messiah. It was expected that he should come in pomp; instead of that, he grew up as a plant, silently, and insensibly. He had nothing of the glory which one might have thought to meet with him. His whole life was not only humble as to outward condition, but also sorrowful. Being made sin for us, he underwent the sentence sin had exposed us to. Carnal hearts see nothing in the Lord Jesus to desire an interest in him. Alas! by how many is he still despised in his people, and rejected as to his doctrine and authority!

In these verses is an account of the sufferings of Christ; also of the design of his sufferings. It was for our sins, and in our stead, that our Lord Jesus suffered. We have all sinned, and have come short of the glory of God.  Our sins deserve all griefs and sorrows, even the most severe. Sinners have their beloved sin, their own evil way, of which they are fond. We are saved from the ruin, to which by sin we become liable, by laying our sins on Christ. This atonement was to be made for our sins. And this is the only way of salvation. Our sins were the thorns in Christ's head, the nails in his hands and feet, the spear in his side. He was delivered to death for our offences. By his sufferings he purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God, to mortify our corruptions, which are the distempers of our souls. We may well endure our lighter sufferings, if He has taught us to esteem all things but loss for him, and to love him who has first loved us.

Come, and see how Christ loved us! We could not put him in our stead, but he put himself. Thus he took away the sin of the world, by taking it on himself. He made himself subject to death, which to us is the wages of sin. Observe the graces and glories of his state of exaltation. Christ will not commit the care of his family to any other. God's purposes shall take effect. And whatever is undertaken according to God's pleasure shall prosper. He shall see it accomplished in the conversion and salvation of sinners. There are many whom Christ justifies, even as many as he gave his life a ransom for. By faith we are justified; thus God is most glorified, free grace most advanced, self most abased, and our happiness secured.  

We must know him, and believe in him, as one that bore our sins, and saved us from sinking under the load, by taking it upon himself. Sin and Satan, death and hell, the world and the flesh, are the strong foes he has vanquished. What God designed for the Redeemer he shall certainly possess. When he led captivity captive, he received gifts for men, that he might give gifts to men. While we survey the sufferings of the Son of God, let us remember our long catalogue of transgressions, and consider him as suffering under the load of our guilt. Here is laid a firm foundation for the trembling sinner to rest his soul upon. We are the purchase of his blood, and the monuments of his grace; for this he continually pleads and prevails, destroying the works of the devil.

The bottom line, WE RELY ON THE LORD *GOD* ALMIGHTY, and we TRUST HIM, void of asking why, and becoming lost in the sea of adversity! We KNOW HE SHALL LEAD us through all the suffering, and IF we HOLD ONTO HIM, like HIM, we SHALL bask IN GLORY ETERNALLY! KEEP THE FAITH, and BE FAITHFUL UNTO HIM, REGARDLESS of the blinding, deafening, destructive ways of this world; AS HE SUFFERED FOR US, we SHALL suffer FOR HIM; HE WHOM IS OUR ONLY HOPE, OUR ONLY PEACE, our ONLY SAVIOUR; BLESS HIS HOLY NAME!!!

LWINSOR © 2017
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS