When God Sends Our Children to a School of Suffering
Without asking for our permission, God may appoint us or certain of our children to become leaders in His kingdom. And we can be sure, that if He marks us out, or marks them out for future leadership, He also will send us or them to the school of suffering. Future leaders in God’s kingdom will undergo unjust pain as part of the curriculum to prepare them to lead.
It’s a pattern you can trace in Scripture. Let’s recall a few.
Examples of Leaders Who Suffered
Jesus, the beloved Son of the Father, and Lord of the Church, was marked out for suffering early in life (Mark 1:11; 12:8). Before Esther rose to become Queen, she suffered the pain of being orphaned in a foreign country. Before Ruth became the husband of Boaz and ancestor of King David, she suffered the pain of widowhood early in marriage.
Before Joseph rose to become second-to-the-throne in the world’s greatest superpower, he suffered being sold as a slave by his own siblings, falsely accused of a crime, and served time in a dungeon for it. Jonah suffered three days and nights in the belly of a fish before arriving in Nineveh as the prophet of God. David suffered being hunted like an animal by King Saul before he was crowned king.
Before Peter became a leader in Jesus’ church in Acts 1-12, due to his arrogance, pride, and the lack of a teachable spirit, he suffered public shame, embarrassment, and grief. Before Paul chose young Timothy as his disciple, he was raised in a home with an unbelieving father, a house divided spiritually.
God’s Future Leaders Will Suffer
It is also a pattern we can trace today. Boys and girls are abandoned by their parents, neglected because of a party lifestyle, by materialistic pursuits, by parental substance abuse, mistreated by leaders at church or school of friends, the products of divorce, observers of marital discord, or they might suffer traumatic, physical injury or disease. The result is pain, suffering, and scars.
Suffering Has Purpose
But the suffering has purpose and does not have to be wasted. Tomorrow morning, we’ll examine a young man in Scripture whom God sent to a school of suffering for 13 years. The suffering was painful, unjust, but designed to refine his character. In fact, the Biblical author uses a specific word taken from the world of metallurgy, a word meaning “to refine silver,” to describe the severity of suffering this young man experienced. The temperature of the silversmith’s fire must reach almost 2,000 degrees F to turn solid silver into liquid form. That is a hot fire. But the heat is key to transformation and change.
It is then, in liquid form, that the impurities in silver can be removed by the silversmith, but not until then. The silversmith’s experienced eye is on the clock and his hand on the thermostat.
The suffering this young man experienced, refined his rough character; it burned away the weaknesses, imperfections, and flaws (pride, being spoiled, arrogant) in his heart. The suffering produced humility, patience, compassion for the weak and the guilty, freedom from a vindictive, vengeful spirit, from greed and the love of money and the acquisition of material possessions, a love of God and people, and the wisdom of God—qualities of God’s leaders.
He emerged from the refiner’s fire after 13 years of unjust suffering without medals but with multiple scars. But scars, badges of credibility and honor in God’s kingdom (the nail-prints in Jesus’ hands, feet, and side), are the visible marks of a leader God has prepared to lead. But don’t mistake medals for qualification. God’s people today give away medals to their favorite celebrity, but few have any scars to show. Think of the godly leaders in the Old and New Testaments. They all wear scars.
I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Gal 6:17
The “marks” Paul[1] refers to are the scars of his wounds received in the service of Jesus his Master. The word “mark” is τὰ στίγματα (stigmata), the visible brands placed on a slave by his master in order to prove ownership.
What was God’s plan for the school of suffering, the fiery refinement in the blazing furnace? God was preparing him for leadership. The path to leadership in God’s kingdom requires a curriculum which includes suffering as a prerequisite.
Reasons for Hope
So, has God placed you in the school of suffering? Take hope. He has a purpose for that suffering. It will not be wasted. Has God placed one of your children in the hot furnace? Take hope. God knows what he is doing. His eye is on the clock and his hand on the thermostat.
Tomorrow Morning: April 16, 2023
Tomorrow morning at Redeemer Bible Church, we’ll examine the process by which God put a young, future leader into the school of suffering. We’ll talk about what parents can do to find hope when their children suffer, and how to reinforce rather than jeopardize God’s plan for the refinement of their daughters and sons.
Come join us tomorrow morning at 10:30 am!
Thank you for reading.
[1] Observe Paul’s reference to his own sufferings: Phil 3:10; Col 1:24; 1 Thess 1:6.