Happy Suffering.....??

Scripture I'm Reflecting on:  Philippians 2:29 / John 9:3:
     "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him."

---Jesus responding to a question about why a man was blind (and later healed)
     "It was not  because of his sins or his parents' sins....This happened so the power of God could be seen in him."
  
I had planned on writing on the John 9:3 verse tonight, but this morning I read through Philippians and came across the 2:29 verse, and realized I could use both of these to emphasize the same message.

Am I reading this right?  "The privilege of suffering....".  "This (blindness)  happened so the power of God could be seen in him".  ........ummmm......heh?......come again?....#bibletypo?

While I'm obviously making an (weak) attempt at humor, the initial thought of hearing "the privilege of suffering" is a little scary.  Equally as scary is the fact that a man was blind his whole life so that "the power of God could be seen in him."  The man did nothing wrong (nor his parents) to cause this blindness, its just the plan God had for him.  Obviously the story of the blind man comes with a happy ending, but the general concept of trusting God and understanding and appreciating our suffering is not an easy task.  Blindness is obviously an extremely tough example of "suffering", but I think this verse can relate to any of our problems.  Failing a test, getting rejected for a job, injuries, illnesses, family issues.  These can all be examples of our "privilege" to suffer for God.

The takeaway from this verse (and many others) is that we need to trust God, and know that even in our worst of times, we should always look to God for guidance and strength, and ultimately use these times to build our character and demonstrate how strong our faith really is.  Easy to say and write, MUCH MUCH harder to do...

Reflection:
We are fallen.  We are somewhat selfish.  The thought of suffering being in anyway good just doesn't naturally fit into the human mindset.  I am extremely guilty of falling into the mindset these verses warn us against.  I catch myself all the time saying "Why me" "Of course that happened to me" "Just my luck...".
These versus remind me of the saying I hear so many skeptics or critics say, and admittedly something I've thought in my past..."If this God fella is so great...then why do you get sick" "Why aren't you rich, healthy, and totally awesome."  If this God was what you say he is, why wouldn't be bless his followers with all the things great?'
Well the answer to this I think is quite simple, if by following God all of your problems went away and everything was perfect, how many people would follow God?  Answer:  Everyone.  But are we supposed to follow God for the reason of selfishly improving our own lives?  No.  It is easy to live faithfully if you're getting everything you want.  It's easy for a CEO to be nice to his employees during a quarter when hes turning millions in profit.  But how does he act when the company takes a loss?  It's easy for an athlete to be gracious when their winning, but how do they act after a loss?  These low points are when our true character is revealed, and how we react during times in our life when we are "suffering" is when God is watching us closely.  It is natural to be sad, annoyed, or maybe even angry during these times in our life.  But we should never question, give up, or doubt that God is not taking care of us during these times.  He never presents us with a situation we cannot handle, in one way or the other.

Final Thought:
A famous football coach once said, "one man practicing good sportsmanship is better than is far better than 50 others preaching it."  I can sit here and write all day, and we can all read and talk about how great were going to be in our bad times, but the only way we truly do right by God is through our actions during our "suffering times."  Everyone's path is going to be different.  Everyone will face different levels of suffering.  Instead of following our "fallen tendencies" of wondering why is this happening to me and not him, use the situation to build character, and create something positive.  I have to imagine that nothing brings God more joy then when he sees us remain strong and faithful during these times...

Life example:
Probably the lowest point in my life came when, for lack of a better wording, I blew a gasket at God for an injury I suffered at the peak of my athletic career.  If you've ever seen Forrest Gump, the Lt. Dan seen when hes on the shrimp boat in the hurricane is as  best of a simulation as I can give you.  Anyways, I let this anger linger for a long time, and used it as a reason not to believe.  I have thankfully  long since accepted and moved past this incident in my life; and continually ask for forgiveness for those years.  But I now try and remember those dark points in my life whenever challenges confront me now.  I don't claim that I understand, or even will ever understand why that injury was in my cards, but I do understand now that good things could have (and maybe still can) come from that incident had I stopped thinking selfishly and accepted the "suffering" ..lookeing to God for strength and guidance.  Reflecting on this situation now helps me when I start getting that "why me" attitude in my current life, and these versus will further help me in situations that seem like low points.


I think the best thing we can do is, on the occasion we start asking ourselves why something bad is happening in our lives, to remember that God, maybe more than any other time, is truly watching over us at that point; and what better time to please Him then by demonstrating our faith in the lowest of times....

To quote one of the worst songs in the history of planet earth "I get knocked down...but I get up again.." (yep....time for bed).  God isn't out to beat us up, "knock us down" for good.  He will always raise us  back up if we let him.  Don't lose faith in bad times.  Use the bad times, to strengthen your faith...