The Land Of Suffering

A friend of mine posted a quote from A. W. Tozer that said, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He hurts him deeply.” I started thinking about my life and then the lives of others in context of this quote. God can only bless us to the extent of how much of our life we surrender to Him. There are processes we must go through to get the blessings and promises of God. I know that He will let us walk through the valley of the shadow of death in order to get us where He wants us. I also know that He will be with us in those times giving us His rod and His staff. He will do whatever is necessary to grow us and to place us where He wants. It may take years of not understanding, but He will always accomplish His purpose in our life.

In the late chapters of Genesis, we meet a teenager named Joseph. God gave him dreams that he would be in a position where his family would bow down to him. They mocked God’s calling on his life and hated him for it. They beat him up, threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave. He spent years as a slave in Egypt. There he was falsely accused and thrown in prison Where he was forgotten. At each step, it says God was with him. After around 13 years of wondering where God was in his pain, in one day he was released from prison, stood before Pharaoh and was placed second in command of Egypt. Around a decade later, his brothers came and bowed before him seeking food. God used his pain and displacement to fulfill the dream and to position him to save his family. In Genesis 41:52 he named his son Ephraim which means “God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering” (TPT).

1 Peter 5:10 says, “So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation” (NLT). Our natural desire is to run from suffering, discomfort and pain, but God uses them to bless us. The greater hurt or pain you go through, the more you will experience God’s grace. God wants to reveal more of Himself to us, but we often try to get out of the processes He puts in place that cause our roots to grow down deep into Him. We complain when life isn’t easy or God doesn’t enact His plan right away. Joseph’s path to the promise was long and difficult. We don’t read where he complained or questioned God. He held onto to his faith through the years of feeling forgotten by God, even when he didn’t understand. God will restore, support and strengthen you when you walk through these times. His grace will be sufficient as well. He will cause you to be fruitful in the land of suffering.

Photo by Bahador on Unsplash