As long as we make it our goal to pursue happiness, we will always avoid suffering. No one would choose to suffer unless there was a good and certain purpose for it. If needed, they would be willing to suffer. We learn from Jesus that, sometimes, it is God's will that we go through difficult times.
If we know the purpose of suffering, we are much more able to endure it. As God's children, we can trust Him that He is always accomplishing a great good through the suffering of His loved ones. The Book of Revelation, in part, is preparing Christians to endure sufferings. Each church has its own future. Smyrna would face great persecution (2:10); Philadelphia would be spared (3:10). Each would be worked out by our Lord Himself. Later in Revelation we see the martyred saints crying out for revenge. Justice would be delayed but only for a short period. God heard their cries. God would soon satisfy this great injustice.
Isaiah 53, the fourth and last of the Servant Songs depicting the Messiah, paints a very confusing picture. We cannot understand how one who would receive such laud and exaltation would be connected to such horror and pain. We cannot understand how the innocent would bear the guilt of the errant.
We see the "U" pattern before us in this passage. The Messiah starts from His lofty heavenly position and then drops low, so low, to disfigurement and death itself. This was not a usual death. It was an unjust death in which the innocent would die with a criminal.
There are no accidents. We can and must trust God to rightly judge our circumstances. If suffering comes, then we know it is a situation in which God will work out a greater good.
"And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12).
Godly Christians tend to go against the system, secular or religious. Suffering plays such a key role in humbling. We should, as much as possible, seek humility that suffering would not be needed. But if needed, then trust God for the suffering, whether it be general sickness or actual persecution.
Many cannot accept the place of humility in their lives because their hearts are set on this earth with its false promises. We need to turn from this and seek our Father's face. We must set our hearts on that which is eternal. If not, we will need to embrace the dust that humility brings.
Isa 2:17 And the pride of man will be humbled, And the loftiness of men will be abased, And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
Isa 13:11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud, And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
Ac 8:33 "IN HUMILIATION HIS JUDGMENT WAS TAKEN AWAY; WHO SHALL RELATE HIS GENERATION? FOR HIS LIFE IS REMOVED FROM THE EARTH."
