Suffering is one of the great dilemmas of life, challenging many people’s faith, extinguishing it on others. Yet for some it stimulates faith and draws out worship.
Listen to Job, perhaps the epitome of suffering in the OT, who yet in faith and worship cried, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21)
Listen to Joseph, who said to his brothers sho had caused his suffering, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good…” (Gen 50:19-20).
In this they are thinking biblically, for suffering in the Bible has many purposes within God’s gracious providence.
It stimulates us to Prayer (Psa 61:2). It brings us to the Word of God for restoration and refreshment (Psa 119:50, 93) as well as for instruction to greater godliness of life (Psa 119:79, 95). It encourages separation from the world, revealing the unsatisfying nature of the present world (Psa 63:1). It shatters the illusion of self-sufficiency, and humbles us (2 Chron 33:12).
It is a means of discipline: to prepare us for some work, to teach us new things, to help us persevere (Job 5:17-18). It is a means of conforming us to the likeness of Jesus Christ (Phil 3:10; cf Rom 8:29; Rom 12:2).
Today in Mark 5:25ff we look at a woman who endured intense suffering for 12 years and how the Lord used it for her and our good. May we by it be encouraged in the exercise of faith as expressed in these words by Philip Ryken:
‘We do not have to hold back, alone and afraid, avoiding other people and hardly daring to approach God. No matter what we have done, or what we have suffered, Jesus will welcome us into the Father’s love with open arms. And He will give us His peace, watching over us forever with the benediction of His grace. Within His person, on the basis of His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus has the power to heal us in all the ways we need to be healed – from sorrow, abandonment, abuse, depression, and the guilt of our sin. All we need to do is grab hold of him by faith and trust in his power to save.’
Hear the words Jesus gave to this woman, a blessing that contains promise and assurance: “Go into peace.”