God Uses Suffering to Prove Us

In the last two posts we’ve seen that God uses suffering to protect us, and we’ve seen that God uses suffering to purify us. In this post, we come to an often underappreciated aspect of how God uses suffering in our lives for our good: God uses suffering to prove us. Proverbs 17:3 says, “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.”  

Peter tells us that “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3) we have been given “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (v. 4-5). Peter then says, “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (v. 6). In other words, even though we suffer from this or that sickness, financial problem, death of a loved one, persecution, or whatever, we still “greatly rejoice” because of the eternal inheritance that can never “perish, spoil, or fade” which is kept in heaven for us. Rejoicing in our eternal inheritance is the most important key to enduring suffering, but that’s for a future post.

So Peter told us that we will “suffer grief in all kinds of trials” and in the next verse (v. 7) he tells us why we must suffer: “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” So God uses suffering in your life to prove your faith and when Jesus is revealed your proven faith will result in your receiving “praise, glory and honor”! You see, at the end of the ages when our Lord tells us, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23), it will be because we actually will have done well! Every sincere Christian will long for this!

We find a similar verse in 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5: “Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.” Notice that when we continue to honor God through suffering that this is “evidence” that “God’s judgment” about us “is right”! Some might ask, “but if God knows our hearts, why does He need to prove our faith?” But the Lord isn’t proving our faith to Himself. The Lord is proving our faith to everyone who sees us honorably endure suffering in this present age—Christians and non-Christians—but at the judgment, when all our deeds are revealed, He will reveal our proven faith to every sentient being. Everyone in the history of creation—humans, angels, and every other kinds of beings there are in Heaven—will get to see that you and I honored God through trial thus proving that God’s judgment about us is right and so we are “worthy of the kingdom of God”!!

Bone Cancer and Me

In 2002 I started experiencing lower back pain. As the months went on, the pain increased, and I visited different doctors, all of whom told me that I needed to do stretching exercises (which is the remedy for many people’s back pain). But the pain increased and became so severe that I could no longer sleep in my bed upstairs with Jean E. (this was very sad to me). I couldn’t really sleep downstairs either, but at least I wasn’t waking up Jean E. Finally, I got a CT on a Friday morning and the next Monday morning I got a phone call from the orthopedic surgeon. Not his nurse. Not an assistant. The doctor was on the phone and I knew, of course, that that couldn’t be good news.

The doctor told us (Jean E. was listening in on another line) that I had “a mass” on my spine and that I needed to see a specialist a long way from where we lived. After we hung up, I walked into Jean E.’s home office and, with tears streaming down our faces, I thanked God for what He had allowed. At that moment, I knew that I had honored God in the face of extreme suffering, thus proving the sincerity of my faith. That didn’t stop the tears (most of them in response to the prospect of me leaving Jean E.) but it did give me great comfort. My suffering had meaning! The heavenly host was watching.

And then the whirlwind began. Quickly I saw the specialist, who ordered a biopsy (which hurt, by the way). After the biopsy was done, we waited to hear the result. Finally, a few days later, my orthopedic-oncologist told me that the biopsy’s diagnosis was that I had a very severe form of cancer that he would treat first by chemo and then, after six months or so, if the tumor shrank, he might opt to operate. But he said he thought the biopsy might be mistaken and he needed to see the slides himself. We were stunned and, after we hung up, Jean E. and I met in the hallway, again with tears streaming down our faces we held hands and I led us in a prayer of thankfulness to God. And again I knew that I had demonstrated the reality of my faith to the Father and the heavenly host (I also knew that I had humiliated Satan).

I always emphasize the tears streaming down our faces because that’s real—being faithful to God doesn’t mean that we won’t shed tears while we’re being faithful. I forcefully chose to thank God regardless of my future on this earth, and that brought me a sense of honoring God in the midst of great emotional and physical pain—that served as an anchor for our stormy lives.

Again, let me emphasize that this knowledge didn’t stop the tears—the thought of leaving Jean E. alone was terribly sad to us, and I knew that the Bible didn’t guarantee I would recover from this cancer. But I also felt a sense of triumph.

A couple of weeks after the diagnosis, I had a six-and-a-half hour surgery because my surgeon thought the biopsy could be mistaken.

I Felt Famous

Here’s something I didn’t mention in the book. On my sixth and last day in the hospital they pulled the catheter. They told me that it was possible that I might not be able to urinate and that I might have to be catheterized for weeks, perhaps forever. Well, they waited to find out if I could pee without being catheterized. As I was lying there pondering whether I had the more severe form of cancer that might result in my becoming a paraplegic or worse, and pondering whether I would have to be catheterized for the rest of my life, I told the Lord that I was going to honor Him no matter what. And this may sound strange, but at that moment, lying there with only Jean E. and a nurse in my hospital room, I felt famous!

I felt famous because I knew the Creator of the universe saw me, the Audience of One saw me honor Him in the midst of suffering. I also knew that at the revelation of Jesus Christ that everyone—humans, angels, and other heavenly beings—would know that I honored God even in severe suffering.

Thankfully, I was able to pee (inquiring minds want to know) and it turned out the biopsy was mistaken—I actually had a comparatively milder form of cancer and I’ve been well ever since.

Therefore, dear Christian, decide to honor God through suffering so when suffering comes and you honor God through it, you will receive “praise, honor and glory when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

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