Dr. J. Vernon McGee :: Benefits of Suffering

Why Do God’s Children Suffer?

Benefits of Suffering

There are several benefits that accrue to you and me through the discipline of the Lord. I want to mention four of them.

Patience

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? (Hebrews 12:7)

Patience means to be able to endure, and that includes being able to endure suffering. Therefore God disciplines us in order that He may teach us how to endure trials, sickness, and suffering. Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. It doesn’t come in a gift-wrapped package at Christmas. Patience is something that comes through suffering. In Romans, Paul says that tribulation or trouble works patience in the life of a believer:

…But we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. (Romans 5:3)

Again let me say that to suffer and not realize why you are suffering is, to my judgment, one of the most foolish things a believer can do. When God disciplines us, He is trying to teach us endurance. He is trying to teach us patience.

Assurance

Now the second benefit is assurance that we are children of God. If you want real proof that you are God’s child, suffering will provide that.

But if ye be without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. (Hebrews 12:8)

He says here that if God does not discipline you, then you are not actually His child. God disciplines every one that He receives. A proof that you are a child of God is the fact that He disciplines you. Suffering is not always an evidence that you are in disfavor with God. It is not always an evidence that you are out of His will or that you’ve done something wrong. Rather, it is proof positive that you are His child. He is trying to teach you something, and He is trying to show you that you are His child.

It may be that we as Americans will soon have real testings. The little changes we are having to make now in our lifestyle are nothing, in my opinion, to what may be coming in the future. And it may be a marvelous way God will use of weeding out those who are not His own. William the Conqueror, who probably did more for England than any other ruler (in that he is the one who tore down the old Saxon buildings of wood and began to erect those magnificent structures like Westminster Abbey and St. John’s Chapel, which is in the Tower of London), is called William the Conqueror, but he didn’t sign his name that way. He signed his name William the Bastard because he was the illegitimate son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and was recognized by Robert to succeed in his place. And so William the Conqueror never let the world forget his real background. I believe that a great many church members today could sign their names the same way. They are church members, but they actually are not children of God. They really haven’t been born again into the family of God. They have no proof that they are God’s children.

God disciplines His own so that we will know we belong to Him.

Profit

There is a third reason for God’s discipline. It is for our profit.

Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. (Hebrews 12:9, 10)

The “profit” here is not material profit. I don’t think that book I mentioned which claims to show how you can make a million dollars by becoming a Christian ought to be in print. I do not think God is moving in that direction today. The profit happens to be spiritual profit, and that is “partakers of his holiness.”

You and I live in a day of action, which also is in the church. I’ve said many times, “Get busy for God. Do something for God.” And we have a great deal of activity and movement instead of a desire to live a holy life for God. But He wants a holy life. He wants that above your service. Really, what has happened to old-fashioned holiness? I started off in the Methodist church, and I just can’t get away from it. I remember hearing Bishop Moore, of the old Southern Methodist Church, say years ago, “If the Methodists were as afraid of sin as they are of holiness, it would be a great day.” Well, not only Methodists, but that would apply, I think, to believers everywhere today. We need holy living, and God disciplines His children that they might have a holy life.

Productivity

The fourth thing, and the last I shall mention, is that God wants us to be productive Christians.

Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:12, 13)

In other words, God wants us to grow up. He wants to get us off Pablum and out of the baby stage. He wants to get us out of the spiritual nursery and get us going. He wants to make us men and women of conviction and courage, stamina and strength.

Someone asks, “How may I teach my children to live the Christian life and to attend church?” The answer is: By living the Christian life yourself and going to church yourself. This is something that is desperately needed — courage and conviction in the lives of believers.

It was my privilege to have the poet, Martha Snell Nicholson as a member of the Church of the Open Door when I was pastor in Los Angeles. She wanted to be baptized by immersion, and I baptized her in a bathtub. She was a shut-in and in ill health for many years, and her body could not be touched anywhere without her screaming out in pain. As I baptized her, lowering her down into the tub, she screamed at the top of her voice. It was horrible. However, in spite of her suffering, the last book of poems which she wrote was entitled Hearts Held High. Isn’t that lovely? In reading any poem in that book, you would never dream that the author was suffering so. I tell you, God disciplined her in order that she might write wonderful poetry which has blessed many a heart. The greatest pulpits in Southern California are not in churches; they are on beds of pain. There are many wonderful saints of God who are not in churches — they are not able to attend services. One thing the radio ministry has opened to my eyes that I’d never really seen before is the number of people in this country who are bedfast, and by faith they are living for God. I know one woman who writes a volume of letters every month to encourage missionaries on the field, and she is lying on a bed in constant pain. What a message!