Why do we have to go through suffering? Why does God allow it? Why do we turn to God more often when we go through suffering? Isn’t it interesting that one question answers the others? I recently heard a speaker explaining a pattern that’s typical among mankind. It goes like this…we go from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency, from complacency to dependency, from dependency back to bondage. But look at where bondage takes you…back to spiritual faith. I don’t believe this applies to only bondage. I believe it’s any type of suffering.
When God withholds His hand of blessing, the result can manifest itself in a number of ways. So why does God allow it? He allows it to draw us closer to Him. Though it’s difficult to rejoice in pain, it is a blessing. If He leaves us at the abundance/complacency stage, what happens? Well, it shouldn’t happen, and I wish it didn’t, but usually what happens is we become uprooted and in the end, will He look at us and say, “I never knew you?”
That’s what I don’t want to happen. But it says in Job that the ungodly is like an amply watered plant in the sunshine. Their shoots spread over the garden and it appears that it’s flourishing. But the roots are weak and wrapped around rocks. It is easily uprooted and the soil underneath says, “I never knew you.”
I never thought about what happens when a plant is given excess water in the middle of the day’s heat. I was always told to water in early morning or in the evening and not to over water, but to just make sure the soil is moist. Reading this in Job, the picture I got is the hot and thirsty plant drinking up the water too fast. So, the water never has a chance to soak deep into the soil. The roots don’t have to stretch deep to search for the water, they remain in the topsoil where it’s rocky. They don’t get the nutrients in the deep, richer part of the soil, so they’re thin and weak. Yet, the plant is getting water and sunshine, so growth occurs. But since the growth is not in the roots, it’s in the shoots giving the appearance of a lush garden. This appearance hides the fact that the plant is really weak and easily uprooted. The roots never stretch down deep, so the good soil says after it’s been uprooted, “I never knew you.”
I suppose that’s what having abundance can do. That’s what being spoiled can do. That’s what happens when we fall into complacency and forget God. But there are times when a plant is deprived, and the suffering it goes through from the deprivation is evident to the world because it appears withered and haggard. Though underneath, the roots are stretching down as far as it can go seeking and searching for water. Finally, the gardener tends to the plant, and the water is allowed to soak all the way down because the roots are not at the top drinking it up too quickly. The water reaches the roots, and as the plant quenches its thirst, it also receives nutrients from the deeper soil. Now the roots are not only deep, but strong and able to hold itself firm no matter how much weathering is going on up above.
When I’m feeling withered and haggard, it’s a good sign that I need to search God’s Word, I need to drink from the well that never runs dry, I need to fill myself up with His strength. That way, I’m strong enough to stand firm regardless of what’s coming at me from all directions. It doesn’t mean that an abundance of God’s blessings is a bad thing. But if I slip into complacency, I know that He will eventually withhold blessing in order to get my attention. So, I suppose that withholding blessing is in itself a blessing.
I pray that I don’t have to go through suffering, but yet I still pray that He will use whatever He has to in order to keep me close to Him. There’s a reason for everything we have to suffer through, and usually more than a few reasons at that, but one of the reasons will always have to do with our relationship with God.
Amie Spruiell 10/08/10
