As vibrant and successful as his ministry was, Paul’s life was a bag full of thorns. He had very little room to breathe. You know how people say they came up for air? Not Paul! He had a really tough life, just as he was told in that vision of the day of his conversion. Is it being thrown down and beaten until he was left for dead? Is it pretending to be dead, so they’d stop flogging him with whips and sticks? Is it being humbly let down in a basket like a food item to save him from those who tried to kill him? Is it running out of synagogues and cities out of rejection? What of the mockery and outright hatred from the very people he thought he’d won over with the truth (ask the Corinthians and Galatians), Is it the bewitching and brainwashing of his converts (Galatians again) by legalists who preferred to believe in the lies than in his miserable teaching. Is it combating falsehood that had swept over cities and churches? Many of Paul’s converts chose the lying apostles over his message. They challenged him (again, ask the Romans and Corinthians).
Paul suffered. Yes, the voice he heard on the way to Damascus told him so. I am sure if Paul were here today, we would say it’s his karma being a Big B word. Yet, his suffering had nothing to do with his past life. Suffering, Paul said, builds faith (endurance and all) and in it we experience joy. He wrote in Romans 5:3-5;
3 We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience.
4 And patience produces character, and character produces hope.
5 And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us.
In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 17 NCV, Paul said:
We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles.
Most of us have faced severe hardships to the point we question God’s might. We think he’s punishing us for our past. Let’s not forget that suffering is a main course for the Christian soldier, not just a side dish. Suffering, persecution and hardship are in the fruit basket and prescription of a Christian soldier. We better accept it.
Our life on this side of eternity is not a fairy tale with a sweet ending dictated by the world. It’s also not trouble-free. It is a life of intense trials. Every trial teaches us faith and builds godly character, capacity, and endurance in us. From the wisdom and experience we’ve learned through suffering, we can offer people grace and support when they pass through their bilious afflictions and hideous troubles.
And if we understand faith, we know we have a glorious life despite the pain and suffering. The glory beyond outweighs the present troubles.
Remember this:
Your distress is someone’s comfort.
Your pain is someone’s comfort
Go through every crisis, not just to arrive at a place where you now say it’s grass to grace
Go through it knowing you’d receive the victor’s crown
Keep the faith. Fight to finish.
The good news is we have a father of tender mercies, compassion and all comfort. He comforts us to comfort others.
© 2024 Enobong O’wunmi.
