Finding Purpose and Growth in Suffering

"See in Genesis 1 after God created the world and created Adam and Eve he told him look everything here on this Earth it's for you okay you you rule over it you take care of it you enjoy it he goes but there's one tree and I don't want you to eat of that one tree he goes in fact if you eat of that tree everything's going to change the moment God gave them that command he was also giving them a choice a choice between good and evil a choice to obey or a choice to Rebel had they obeyed everything was going to be good but because they rebelled God warned them he says look if you eat of that tree you will die death will enter the world and so when they were tempted and they ate of that God had to come true with what he promised he says look I told you this was the warning and right then everything changed and suddenly death entered the world and there was a curse upon this Earth so when you and I look at things on this Earth and go something seems wrong something seems off we're absolutely right this wasn't what he wanted it wasn't what he intended but what the Bible says is that one day things are going to change and he's going to redeem the world and there's going to be a new Heaven and a new Earth and everything's going to be different but until then we're here and we Face pain but the crazy thing about it is that the Bible says that God can even use the pain that we're suffering right now for his glory he can turn it into a good thing." [00:02:26]

"That's why in James 1: 2 he says consider it all joy my brothers when you meet Trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing he he says look even if you're going through difficult times you can find joy in that in fact you can count it all joy because he says what God does is is not just redeem the whole world but he even redeems this pain in our lives he says he can actually use it to make us stronger it's the very thing that brings steadfastness or perseverance into us and he says if you let it have its perfect result then you yourself become mature and complete that's why some of the elderly people that you know that have so much character and just seem so far beyond us man look into their lives it's because they went through some pain and they made it through and God says that's way I use pain I can actually use it for your benefit to make you a strong person mature complete lacking in nothing because it's during those difficult times that we would actually draw close to him." [00:04:07]

"Think of it like this it's like when you're when you're making a cake you know you use ingredients like flour and butter and eggs and sugar and and if you look at each ingredient like the the butter you ever you ever just take like a half a cube of butter and throw it in your mouth and suck on it I mean it's it's gross or you you take a handful of flour and throw it in your mouth terrible or you crack an egg it's horrible and you know you know the Sugar's fine but you mix it all up and you throw it in an oven and outcomes is mature complete you're you're concerned about the end result and and that's what God's saying is there are ingredients he throws in our lives but what we don't understand is man those things mixed in he's concerned about who we are at the end of our lives he says you can use this process to redeem you it will make you mature and complete in fact the Bible says later on in verse 12 it says blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the Crown of Life which God has promised to those who love him." [00:05:26]

"He say the person who makes it through and doesn't just freak out and curse God and just ditch him the person who actually perseveres through the trial cuz there's something that trial does in us to strengthen us it's easy to it's easy to love God when he just gives you everything you want but what if you go through some difficult times do you actually cling to him for that do you cling to him during those times you draw near in faith to him because he says the person who receives the Crown of Life is the person who loves him and the person who loves him is the one who endures the trial you see trials can actually be a good thing I can look back at my life now and say God I'm actually grateful that my parents died at a young age because it caused me to think differently about life from the time I was on Middle School on I started to ask myself questions like what is this all about I don't take any day for granted I don't take for granted that I have tomorrow that by the time you're watching this that I'm still going to be on the earth I don't know that and so I make the most of every day when I put my kids to bed at night man I don't I don't just assume oh I'll see them tomorrow all these are good things it caused me to cherish life but it also caus me to pursue God." [00:06:42]

"I mean when I'm 12 and and I don't have parents I'm thinking okay what's this life all about this can end at any second like this could be my last day on Earth I better figure out what's after that man it was during that time that I began to question what is this all about is there something bigger than me is he for real can I know him what's it going to be like when this life is all over see it was the deaths of my parents that caused me to think of these things and caused me to eventually find God and know him like I do and anything that would cause me to find God is a huge blessing no matter how painful it was at the time I've met many people who've come to God come to know him through the most painful times of their lives because they saw okay this can't be coincidence but I don't understand this pain but it's as they tried to figure it out they found God." [00:08:08]