Bittersweet Providence

Persecution, by its very nature, is not a pleasant experience because of great loss, physical suffering, and possibly death. So, we are surprised that Jesus declared that those who are persecuted for His Name are blessed—in a happy condition. Can one really be expected to feel exhilaration in suffering? Isn’t it madness to expect persecuted people to rejoice and be glad in their pain? Yet this is what the Lord commands (Matthew 5:10-12). How do we understand this?

The Lord told Isaiah that His thoughts transcend ours in infinite measure: thus, His ways are inscrutable to us (Isaiah 55:8, 9). Isaiah wrote these words to a people who would be tried in the fires of divine judgment, displaced from their homes, their families torn apart and subjected to unbelievable cruelty. His mind was set. His will determined. His word would not return empty because He would accomplish His purpose and succeed in His plan (vv. 11, 12). However, when it was over, He promised, “You shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace” (v. 12).

Here is the key to what the world sees as insanity—rejoicing in suffering. Our sinfulness is such that God must use pain and affliction to cure us. It is not the experience of scourging that occasions the joy but the sure knowledge that His surgery results in our wholeness. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

This is what Paul meant when he wrote, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Colossians 1:24). This is the root of his exhortation to the Romans: “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame” (Romans 5:3-5). Peter expressed the same truth: “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13).

Naturally, we want to believe the false claims that the gospel is intended to remove our unhappiness, our difficulties, and our privations, making us ecstatically blissful now. God is the great supplier of every blessing and we are entitled to them. When this does not happen, we react with anger and resentment. We question His love and goodness. We doubt our position in Christ, thinking that our failures have occasioned His displeasure. We moan and groan, feeling sorry for ourselves and wishing we could experience the wonderful pleasure-filled life that everyone else seems to have.

A real acquaintance with Scripture reveals that only fools take their ease and enjoy their blessings now (Luke 12:15-20). It is only after Jesus comes that He wipes the tears from our eyes. Then “you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.”