Can God Trust You with Your Suffering?

Crazy question, I know. But just hear me out.

Today I took an unexpected trip to the er due to some nagging chest pains. After a particular interaction with a nurse, I now wonder if it was unexpected or divinely orchestrated. Once they placed me in a room, 3 young ladies all entered to do their specific duties. I felt led to ask them if they had a relationship with Jesus Christ. One of them quickly responded that she does, despite having to spend many of her Sundays in the er. The other 2 women didn't respond, and that kind of bothered me as I sat the remainder of my visit. I never want to hound anyone; I try to move as God moves me.

About an hour or so later, one of the other young ladies came in to do her nursely duties. She reassured me that while they weren't finding anything alarming, it was better safe than sorry that I came in. She went on to explain that often African Americans - especially women - dismiss their symptoms by attributing them to something else. She started to explain her husband's situation, who had to have a heart transplant at a young age. Per her account, it was due to a broken heart. Of course, I was flabbergasted at the thought that your heart can literally be physically broken after experiencing some sort of traumatic event! I didn't expect the way the conversation would turn. She shared that she tells him he should be a pastor because he has a great testimony of what God did for him in his situation. This prompted me to ask her where he stands in his faith. She shared that he is quite angry with God; that he blames God for the event that broke his heart and everything he has had to endure due to having a broken heart. I shared with her that even though neither of them knows me, trust me when I say that God has a great purpose for her husband's life, and that he has to get himself before the Father so that He can reveal exactly what that purpose is. We continued to chat, and I was able to share with her my topic for my sermon I was supposed to preach: Can God Trust You with Your Suffering?

Her husband is a prime example of the message of faith that God laid on my heart early this morning. We often say that we trust God - with our life, our finances, our children and other aspects of our life. But then life happens - as it often does - and then our faith starts to wane. We find ourselves feeling shaky in the midst of what we're going through instead of doing what we as believers are supposed to do. Job's testimony is reflective of our suffering being allowed by God. God's testimony of Job was that he was righteous, and that he trusted God. Satan accused Job of only trusting in God because of the hedge of protection that God had placed around Job, along with all that God had placed in Job's hand. But God trusted that Job's faith in Him was not because of any tangible circumstance in Job's life. God trusted that Job had faith in Him because He was God. He trusted that Job would still uplift God's name and his trust in Him in the midst of whatever Satan thought he could throw at Job.

And so the question remains - can God trust you with your suffering? Can He trust that, if He ordains a hard path or season for your life, you will continue to trust Him in all things? The young nurse shared that her husband is angry, and I imagine there's resentment, bitterness and a hardened heart there as well. He has yet to see God's goodness in the midst of what he has gone through. But is that you, too? Are you angry with God? Are you shaking your fists at Him, asking why me? Is your heart hardened, unable to be the good ground that His word needs to be sown on in order to take root and produce fruit?

God often ordains suffering for our lives - to mature us, grow us and deepen our faith. Oftentimes, we miss what God is doing because we become so fixed on what we're going through and why it has to be us. Blessings, healing, deliverance and more are on the other side of what we face. God just needs our trust in Him to be solid enough that we can persevere through the trial and not always seek the way of escape. So, remember, " In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation." (1 Peter 5:10)

XO,