“Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as children...
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness
and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”
- Hebrews 12:7, 11-12
Pain isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s actually a gift from God.
He created our bodies with nerve endings to tell us when something is off. In fact, leprosy was the scourge of the ancient world primarily because it was a deadening of the nerve endings – it hindered people from feeling pain, so they ended up hurting themselves even worse.
So rather than viewing our pain as a mistake, as the byproduct of a God who isn’t paying close enough attention to our suffering, I pray that we will view it as a gift. And I hope that we will trust our Heavenly Father enough to allow Him to use our pain to strengthen our faith and grow our spiritual muscles. As the writer of Hebrews put it, “endure hardship as discipline (or training). God is treating you as children.”
As a parent myself, I’m torn between the temptation to protect my sons from any and all discomfort, and the desire to see them grow. I love them, and it’s hard to see them struggle, both emotionally and physically. I hurt when I see them hurting, whether because of friction in a friendship or because they’ve encountered an obstacle that seems challenging to them.
However, I also want to see my sons grow in maturity, and maturity doesn’t happen when they aren’t challenged. Their ability to work through conflict won’t expand if I step in every time I see they’re encountering relational friction. Their confidence won’t grow if I take over every time they hit a problem that they don’t already know the answer to.
So hardship doesn't just remind us to fix our eyes on God and lean on Him when our world is shaken; it is also the crucible through which our strength to walk with others is developed. And that's why our pain is a gift.
So rather than viewing our pain as a mistake, as the byproduct of a God who isn’t paying close enough attention to our suffering, I pray that we will view it as a gift. And I hope that we will trust our Heavenly Father enough to allow Him to use our pain to strengthen our faith and grow our spiritual muscles. As the writer of Hebrews put it, “endure hardship as discipline (or training). God is treating you as children.”
As a parent myself, I’m torn between the temptation to protect my sons from any and all discomfort, and the desire to see them grow. I love them, and it’s hard to see them struggle, both emotionally and physically. I hurt when I see them hurting, whether because of friction in a friendship or because they’ve encountered an obstacle that seems challenging to them.
However, I also want to see my sons grow in maturity, and maturity doesn’t happen when they aren’t challenged. Their ability to work through conflict won’t expand if I step in every time I see they’re encountering relational friction. Their confidence won’t grow if I take over every time they hit a problem that they don’t already know the answer to.
And so, as a loving parent, I actually allow my kids to experience discomfort, to work through hardship, to do their own school projects. I will often stay near, encouraging them and reminding them that they can do it, but if I want to see them grow, then I need to allow them to struggle.
God loves us enough to allow us to struggle as well. He doesn’t shield us from the discomfort or downright brokenness of this world. Rather, He walks alongside of us as we work through the challenges each day throws at us. We may not always recognize His nearness, and He will intervene in ways we may never realize, but in the end, our Father in Heaven loves us too much to protect us from hardship. The cost is simply too great.
Admittedly, we often don’t like the discomfort and pain this spiritual training brings. Neither do my kids. And the writer of Hebrews recognized that fact. He admits, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.” But the pain is momentary; the benefits of working through the pain are far longer lasting.
He continues, “Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” I’ve often been struck by the fact that the positive fruit of the struggle – in this instance “righteousness and peace” – isn’t a given. It is only produced when we lean into the hardship and allow ourselves to be trained by it.
God loves us enough to allow us to struggle as well. He doesn’t shield us from the discomfort or downright brokenness of this world. Rather, He walks alongside of us as we work through the challenges each day throws at us. We may not always recognize His nearness, and He will intervene in ways we may never realize, but in the end, our Father in Heaven loves us too much to protect us from hardship. The cost is simply too great.
Admittedly, we often don’t like the discomfort and pain this spiritual training brings. Neither do my kids. And the writer of Hebrews recognized that fact. He admits, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.” But the pain is momentary; the benefits of working through the pain are far longer lasting.
He continues, “Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” I’ve often been struck by the fact that the positive fruit of the struggle – in this instance “righteousness and peace” – isn’t a given. It is only produced when we lean into the hardship and allow ourselves to be trained by it.
I can think of several times I’ve watched my sons encounter challenges that seemed overwhelming to them, though I knew they were more than capable, and then watched as they threw pity parties rather than try to overcome the challenges. In the end, it seems that the only thing my boys learn through the tantrums is that life is hard and their parents are mean. What they fail to recognize in the midst of the emotional outbursts is that my willingness to let them struggle is actually an act of love. And it costs me dearly to love them in that way.
We, too, may be tempted to throw tantrums when God doesn’t step in immediately and calm the storm or give us the answer to our question or fix the relationship that is strained or make the stupid virus go away. Maybe that’s just me, though I doubt it. But Hebrews 12 reminds us that God loves us enough to let us struggle. But He won't make us struggle alone.
We, too, may be tempted to throw tantrums when God doesn’t step in immediately and calm the storm or give us the answer to our question or fix the relationship that is strained or make the stupid virus go away. Maybe that’s just me, though I doubt it. But Hebrews 12 reminds us that God loves us enough to let us struggle. But He won't make us struggle alone.
Our Father won’t abandon us. He isn’t an absentee landlord who wound up the world and now sits back and watches it spin out of control. Nor is He like a cruel child who throws a defenseless animal in the water and waits to see if it will get out or drown. Far too many people have looked at the brokenness of life in this sin-warped world and drawn that conclusion.
God’s reasons for allowing us to struggle are far more loving and purposeful. He allows us to work through things for our own good, to make us stronger, to grow our faith, or as the writer of Hebrews put it, to “strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees” (v.12).
This sort of spiritual growth is not only important for our own well-being, but for the people around us as well. After all, we are surrounded by people who are stumbling along their own broken paths, who are enduring their own pain, and our Father has invited us to come alongside of them. And if we hope to be any support to them, then we truly need to get stronger.
God’s reasons for allowing us to struggle are far more loving and purposeful. He allows us to work through things for our own good, to make us stronger, to grow our faith, or as the writer of Hebrews put it, to “strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees” (v.12).
This sort of spiritual growth is not only important for our own well-being, but for the people around us as well. After all, we are surrounded by people who are stumbling along their own broken paths, who are enduring their own pain, and our Father has invited us to come alongside of them. And if we hope to be any support to them, then we truly need to get stronger.
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