I'm a pre-tribulationist as a matter of sound exegesis; however, I also concede that this eschatological position may lend itself to an obscuring of other biblical teaching concerning persecution and suffering.

            Preparing People for Pain

                                  
                        Embracing a Theology of Suffering

                                                      by David Parker 

What happens when you tell people that God wants to deliver them from all their troubles?  You contribute to a generation of Christians who quit when trouble does come.  They say, “Hey, this is not supposed to happen to us!”  Disappointments surface as a result of their erroneous understanding of how their lives should be. Consequently, they walk away from their faith because they do not understand the nature of Christ’s life nor their role as His disciples.

The typical American perception of God is that He grants all our requests and never intends for us to experience pain and suffering.  Where did we get this?  It is not in the Bible; nor does it produce missionaries; and it is contradictory to a plethora of New Testament admonitions (e.g., 1 Peter 2:21 and 4:12-13) commanding us to follow in Christ’s steps.  Actually, some believers will go through the Great Tribulation; and when they do, they will need a theology that emboldens their faith, rather than one which tells them that it is not really happening.  I hope they have a Bible to read; in it, they will find strength for their faith in these circumstances.

Why do many believers seem to be blind to these passages?   It may be our natural aversion to accept this part of God’s will for our lives; or it could be that our view of eschatology produces a larger scope of deliverance from trouble than what the Bible actually announces.  I’m completely in agreement with focusing on God’s promises; but God has given us a whole Bible, not an incomplete one.  We have a responsibility to study and obey all of it.  I think we see what we want to see when we read the Bible.  We see all the passages which seem to have something in there for us while we tend to ignore the things that we are not so interested in.  Recently, I met with a friend for breakfast.  We were meeting at a place with which I was unfamiliar.  In my attempts to inquire about the location, I asked my friend if this place was near a certain restaurant.  My friend said, “No” but then asked me if I knew where another restaurant was.  I said, “Yes, it’s right beside the one I just mentioned.”   Both of these restaurants had been in business for the same amount of time, but only one of these was “visible” or known to my friend.  Why?  My friend was focusing on what was of personal interest and had somehow missed something right next door.  The problem with missing the Scriptures which feed our faith during difficult days is that it’s like eating junk food while training for the Olympics – it’s just not going to help you do what you need to do.  We need to see and soak in all of Christ’s admonitions to endure suffering for His glory.

Show me the shepherds today who are preparing God’s people for the pain and suffering that is certainly the reality of our lives on this earth.  Consider Revelation 2:10, “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”   How do these words fit into your understanding of God and His will for your life?  “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” sounds like tough preaching to me.

Christ’s admonitions to join Him in His suffering are numerous.  Jesus told His disciples, “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Many Bible characters like Job, Joseph, Daniel, Stephen, and the Apostle Paul all teach us that pain and suffering are an inherent part of the lives of believers.  Paul’s life was ordained of God to include suffering (Acts 9:16); and Paul made persecution and suffering part of his doctrinal agenda in the early church (1 Thessalonians 3:2-4).

My grandmother’s faith encompassed a God who allowed suffering for His own glory.  She had known the Lord from her childhood and had a strong vibrant walk with Him her entire life.  She was a beacon of inspiration to me.   Before grandmother went to be with the Lord at the age of ninety-five, she had suffered for decades with rheumatoid arthritis.  It had caused her bones to contort and become deformed. It was difficult to observe, much less endure.  In addition to the arthritis, she lost her eyesight during the last decade of her life on this earth.  On my many visits to her in this condition, I was grieved to see her in this way.  She used to be so strong and tall, but she had become emaciated and dependent.  But, Oh her spirit!  Her joy was brimming and her confidence in God was undaunted.  I used to fear that she would lose her faith because of the demise of her physical body and the lonely languishing which accompanied the nursing home environment.  No way!  One day while I visited and my faith was faltering about how God could allow her to exist in this fashion, I broached the subject and asked her what she thought of God.  Her answer astounded me but should not have.  She said, “Oh, honey, God has been so good to me.  He has not forsaken me.  These things are part of life under the curse of sin, but He is with us, helping us to endure them.  He is in complete control of my life, and He will take me home when He is ready.”  All I could do was weep at her faithful response and my own faithless question.  She had more than I had, but I wanted more.  Grandma’s God was Great.

If you want to know what you “signed on for” when you came to Christ, read all of the Bible.  God’s answer to our pain is that He is in control of all things.  Somehow, He is glorified even in these hard things, and we are drawn closer to Him in the process.  We do not have be able to explain how, but we need to trust that it is so.  He is Sovereign; and when we get the sovereignty of God straight, everything gets straighter.   The Bible makes more sense when we understand God in this way.  Faith becomes something worth dying for, as well as worth living for.   And pain and suffering become bearable opportunities for believers undergirded by the grace of God to bring glory to God through the circumstances He has ordered for our lives (John 21:19).