When the Righteous Suffer

There is a flip side to the issue of believers who struggle. It is, "Why do I struggle when wicked people seem to be so free of trouble?"

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. -James 1:2-4

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 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. -1 Peter 1:6-7

We should not be surprised when the righteous suffer. It conforms us to the image of Christ. It gives us power in witness. It instills the valuable strength of God-sufficiency and reduces the risk in our ministry for God. It refines us to make us capable and usable. It catches the attention of a watching world so that God's glory may be seen as He becomes credible and visible through our suffering. It may even be used in a sphere far beyond ourselves to glorify God in the universe.

Don't pity the righteous who suffer. They have a divine edge. Their resource in pain is the reality that God is there and they only experience what He permits. And all that He permits is guaranteed by the kind of God He is. The righteous suffer with the knowledge that Christ has conquered and gives grace, growth, and glory in the midst of pain.

-From The Upside of Down by Joseph M. Stowell; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado

In the middle of the struggle, God's promises are vital.

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