S8.5 | Finding Hope in Suffering: Why God Allows Us to Endure Pain and Trials
In this episode of Affirming Truths, host Carla Arges delves into the difficult topic of suffering and why God allows it. Drawing from her own experiences and conversations with others, Carla provides insights on how to navigate suffering, find comfort in God's character, and maintain hope in the midst of trials.
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Key Takeaways
Trusting the Character of God:
Carla emphasizes the importance of trusting in God's love and justice, even when we cannot understand the reasons for our suffering. Believers are encouraged to relinquish the need for answers, and instead, focus on their trust in God's character.
Purpose in Pain:
Listeners are reminded that suffering is a result of the brokenness caused by sin, and even Jesus himself experienced suffering. Carla highlights the potential for purpose and restoration in our pain, as God works all things for our good and His glory.
Reframing the Question:
Instead of asking "why" we suffer, Carla urges listeners to focus on "who" God is. By acknowledging God's sovereignty, holiness, and love as our heavenly father, individuals can find strength and hope despite their circumstances.
Perseverance in Faith:
While doubt, discouragement, and disappointment are natural in times of suffering, Carla emphasizes the importance of choosing to trust God and persevere in faith. Regardless of the duration of suffering, believers are encouraged to find solace in God's comfort and promises.
Connect With Carla:
Inquire about 1:1 coaching ---> carlaagreswellness@gmail.com
Renewing Hope Course —-> https://www.carlaarges.com/renewing-hope
Come hangout on IG with me @carlaarges
Check out the blog
Resources:
5 Steps to Building Resiliency
Affirming Truths Facebook Community
TRANSCRIPT
Carla Arges [00:00:08]:
Hey friends, welcome to affirming truth. I'm your friend and host, Carla Arges. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith and root our identity in Christ. My hope is that you will leave each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode and it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review. I am so glad you're here. Let's get started.
Carla Arges [00:00:34]:
Hey friends, welcome to affirming truth. It is your host, Carla, and I wanted to share with you a tough conversation that I had with one of my one on one coaching clients the other day. She was asking me, why is God allowing me to suffer? Why is God allowing me to suffer? And I have asked myself that question before, in the past, more than once, going through trauma, going through untreated mental illness, even now, sometimes going through the hardship of living with trauma and living with mental illness. The question we can have is why? Why does God allow us to suffer? And in her case, she has been praying for over a decade for rescue from that which is causing her to suffer. And it can feel like God is far and God is ignoring us and God is indifferent to our pain. But I want to share with you what I told her when it comes to why is God allowing us to suffer? Now, number one, I can't answer the question why? Why does God allow it? What I can say is what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me. And that is, first, we cannot understand everything. And to demand God to explain it to us is actually to elevate ourselves above him.
Carla Arges [00:02:17]:
And I know that that is coming off with a really hard pill to swallow. But when we keep questioning God why, and we want an answer, we are telling him that he owes us. He owes us an explanation. He owes us the reason why. And God does not owe us anything. In fact, it is from the abundance of grace and mercy that we have been saved from our sin. God has already done so much. In Isaiah 55 eight to nine it says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither your ways.
Carla Arges [00:03:01]:
My ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. We can't understand everything God does or what he allows. What we have to ask ourselves is, do we trust the character of God? Do we trust that God is full of love? Do we trust that God is full of justice? Can we trust that we will experience the fullness of his love and the fullness of his justice? In the timing, according to when he knows its best, can we trust God? Instead of trying to demand God answer to us, can we lay down our demands and choose to trust the character of God? The second thing I told her, and I've told myself, and the Holy Spirit has pointed this out to me time and time again, is that this world is full of brokenness because of sin, and the christian walk does not exempt us from encountering the effects of this brokenness. Jesus himself came as fully God and fully man and was not exempt from encountering the effects of the brokenness. In fact, Jesus suffered all the way to the cross. So in your suffering, know that Jesus sees you and he feels your pain. He experienced suffering himself.
Carla Arges [00:04:46]:
He knows what it's like, and his heart is for you in the pain. But just like God used Jesus suffering for so much good, there will ultimately be purpose in your pain, because God works things out for your good and his glory, even if we can't see it on this side of eternity. One Peter 510 Peter tells us, and the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong and firm and steadfast. After you have suffered a little while, that's not if you suffer a little while, that's after you have suffered a little while. There is the expectation that we will definitely, in our christian walk, encounter suffering. That is to be expected. After you have suffered a little while. What God restores, yes, God brings us strength.
Carla Arges [00:05:59]:
God makes us steadfast. God does not abandon us to our suffering. No, he comes after a little while according to his time and purpose, when he knows the suffering has worked out what it needs to work out, and he restores. Know, even Jesus said, in this world, you will have triumph. But take heart. I have overcome the world. Guys, we are not living for the here and now. We're living for eternity.
Carla Arges [00:06:33]:
Our great hope is that we will be resurrected with Christ and there will be no more pain and no more suffering and no more sadness, and we will live in the fullness of his glory forever and ever. We are here for such a short period of time, like a vapor. This life is like a vapor. And I know during the midst of struggling it doesn't feel like that. It feels like it's going to be like that forever, that there is no hope and there is no end, but there is a hope. And his name is Jesus. And that took me to the third thing that the Holy Spirit revealed to me in my questioning why that I shared with my client, we have to take the question why? And reframe it. To who? Who is sovereign? Who is holy? Who is our good father? Who is our rescuer? In whom do we have a hope and a future in Christ.
Carla Arges [00:07:35]:
For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Paul wrote this to the church in Colossus. He is before all things. He is the ruler of heaven and earth. He is sovereign. And you, my friend, are his.
Carla Arges [00:08:13]:
You are adopted into his family. You are a child of God. Jesus says, as a human father, who would give their son a rock when he asks for food. No, you give him food. How much more will God in heaven, who is the perfection of what fatherhood should look like, give us? Yes, we may suffer a while, but he has good gifts for us. And we have such a reward in heaven as we persevere in the faith. And that comes to number four, doubt, discouragement, disappointment that is bound to happen in your christian walk, especially when we feel like we have been in our prayer closet day after day, year after year, praying for the same rescue, and it seems to not be coming. Doubt, discouragement, disappointment in those situations is bound to happen.
Carla Arges [00:09:17]:
But the question I want to ask you is, where will you allow those feelings to lead you? The enemy wants to use those feelings to pull you away from God, to isolate yourself from God. The Holy Spirit, though, wants you to take those feelings and press into the bosom of God and let his comfort and his peace that surpasses all understanding envelop you. Where are you going to allow your discouragement to lead you? We read in the psalms that the Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Let our suffering take us to Jesus. I don't know why God allowed me to go through what I went through. I don't know why God continues to allow me to suffer in the ways that I do. But what I do know is that my feet are firmly planted on Christ, my solid rock. And no matter what comes my way, I choose to trust in the character of God.
Carla Arges [00:10:36]:
I choose to keep my eyes fixed on the eternal prize. Guys, this is a choice that we have to make. Do you choose to trust even when you don't understand? Do you choose to persevere in the faith, even in the midst of obstacles? This is not meant to invalidate your pain. The pain is real. The pain is real. I don't want to diminish that in any way. The pain is real. I know that.
Carla Arges [00:11:14]:
Jesus knows that. But in our pain, let us find the healing bomb of God's presence. Let us press in. He wants to comfort us. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. You are not walking through your valley alone. God is with you, and he will see you through to the end. My affirming truth for you today is even in the suffering I choose to trust my heavenly father.
Carla Arges [00:11:53]:
Even in the suffering I choose to trust my heavenly father. And the verse I have for you is from Habakkuk. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine, though the olive crops fail and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my savior. Guys, we have to understand Habakkuk's point of view here in the context. This was an agricultural society. If there was nothing on the fig trees, if there was no fields producing crops, if there was no animals in the pens, this was a dire situation. There was no provision.
Carla Arges [00:12:50]:
This was life and death. This was life and death. And even in the face of life and death, this is what Habakkuk is saying. Even in the face of destitution, even in the face of poverty and suffering, even in the face of life or death, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my savior. Because Habakkuk was choosing to trust in the character of God and choosing to keep his eyes fixed on the eternal. And that's what I'm inviting you guys to do today. I can't tell you when your suffering is going to end, but I can tell you that you have a God that will never leave you or forsake you.
Carla Arges [00:13:41]:
And I can encourage you to choose to trust him this day. I'll talk to you later.
Carla Arges [00:13:50]:
Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media, but for not come find me on instagram at Carla Arges or at affirming truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye, friends.