Why Good Christians Suffer: PART 12
- Grantley Morris
- 23 hours ago
- 15 min read
Why does Scripture talk about suffering “refining” Christians?
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. (Emphasis mine.)
The expression furnace of affliction sounds horrific. It is meant to. It refers to extreme suffering. Nevertheless, the Bible uses the expression not only as a picture of pain but because in Bible times – and even today, though we seldom stop to think of it – furnaces were immensely beneficial. It is only through furnaces that civilization was able to move beyond the Stone Age. The ancients discovered that the application of intense heat was the best thing that could happen to the metals they needed. Astonishingly, the Bible is saying by such references that suffering, though undeniably unpleasant, ends up being of such value to people of God that nothing can equal it.
Many Scriptures refer to hard times refining us, but here’s my favorite and I’d like to link it with another verse from the same letter:
1 Peter 1:6-7 . . . now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.
(Emphasis mine.)
More Examples of Scriptures Indicating the Refining Value of Suffering
Deuteronomy 4:20 But the Lord has taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as it is today.
Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come out like gold.
Psalm 66:10 For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.
Proverbs 17:3 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts.
Isaiah 1:25 I will turn my hand on you, thoroughly purge away your dross, and will take away all your tin [inferior metal].
Jeremiah 9:7 Therefore the Lord of Armies says, Behold, I will melt them, and try them . . .
Zechariah 13:9 I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘the Lord is my God.’
Malachi 3:3 . . . he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
The reference to a fiery trial suggests a connection between the two verses and this link is, in fact, reflected in the original Greek. (The Greek word translated fiery trial in 1 Peter 4:12 means treated with fire (TDNT-6:950) and is used in the ancient Greek (LXX) translation of Proverbs 27:21 for the refining of gold. Its only other occurrence in the New Testament is in Revelation 18:9, 18, where it is used for the destruction of Babylon by fire.)
Peter reminds us that gold is made still more precious by being “tested,” or refined, by fire. Oppressive heat is necessary to remove what is inferior. It purifies, thus increasing the metal’s value and usefulness. This is what Peter says suffering the pain and grief of “various trials” does to something within us that is more precious than even gold – genuine faith.
What makes faith so precious is that it is critically important to our entire walk with God. Not only are we saved by grace (our Lord mercifully showering us with blessing we in no way deserve) through faith (Romans 4:16; 5:2; Ephesians 2:8-9) but we can never ‘mature’ beyond an ongoing dependence on appropriating God’s grace through faith. Every aspect of our walk with God hinges on us continually repeating this process. To imagine that we can receive spiritual gifts or holiness or spiritual growth or answers to prayer or victory over demons or anything else of spiritual value by such means as the effort we put into prayer, fasting, self-denial, Bible study, tithing, charitable acts, or whatever, is to dangerously lose our way spiritually (Galatians 3:1-5). Faith is critical, and Peter says suffering plays a vital role in developing our faith.
Like the application of a refiner’s fire to what might have seemed to be pure gold, hard times expose flaws in our faith, thus allowing us to remove previously undetected deficiencies. Even if the process is initially unpleasant, it ends up making our faith more useful and valuable than ever.
Note the reference to various temptations/trials in the above quote (1 Peter 1:6-7). Some translations use the word manifold and the NET Bible chooses the expression “all sorts of trials.” As highlighted later by Peter, some trials are indeed “fiery” and include severe persecution and mind-numbing pain. Perhaps those on the extreme end of the scale achieve the most. Milder forms of suffering, however, are also able to produce good in our lives.
Until tested by hard times, we typically have an inflated opinion of our faith. What we think is solid faith often turns out to be shamefully weak faith artificially puffed up by circumstances (quick answers to prayer, an easy life, and so on) and feelings.
Regardless of how secure we might feel, for as long as we remain dependent upon emotions as signs of divine acceptance – such as feeling happy or secure or at ease or feeling loved by God and aware of his presence – we are in a spiritually precarious predicament. What makes us alarmingly vulnerable is that the enemy of our souls is the deceiver. He is unable to change spiritual reality – such as the enormity of God’s love and faithfulness and all that Christ has done for us through his death and resurrection. He can, however, mess with our feelings and, at times, our circumstances.
God’s dependability is rock-solid; our feelings are fickle. Even hormones and many other types of imbalances in our body chemistry (sometimes as simple as a vitamin or mineral deficiency) can wreak havoc with our feelings; causing depression (an inability to feel almost anything positive) or anxiety (which feels like a nagging guilty conscience, no matter how cleansed we are by the blood of our Lord, and can fill us with doubts, no matter how great our faith).
Trials typically have the effect of kicking from under our faith the artificial props of feelings or circumstances. When this happens most of us suddenly discover our faith is devastatingly weaker than we had supposed, and we flounder. Nevertheless, by exposing the weaknesses in our faith, trials enable us to purify our faith.
Imagine taking the crutches from someone crippled by a broken leg. This has every appearance of a sadistic act; reducing his ability to walk and increasing his pain. There comes a time in the healing process, however, when what seems like a cruel setback is essential for the person to grow stronger and fully mobile. He might have grown content to depend on crutches but being exposed to the temporary pain and inconvenience of having to hobble without artificial props, empowers him to reach his full potential; enabling him to achieve so much more.
A satanic attack might have been maliciously intended to smash our faith. Our astonishing Lord outwits the enemy, however, masterfully transforming the attack into a priceless opportunity for us to develop real faith that is founded on Christ, who will never let us down, rather than supported by flimsy feelings or circumstances that will inevitably crumble.
Both Jesus and Paul saw our spiritual development as like constructing a building (Scriptures). An unsound structure may look impressive but, eventually, events will reveal the quality of the build. The sooner we become aware of defects, the more likely we can avoid disaster.
Applying his different analogy to the same truth, Peter might put it this way: fiery trials might initially shock and discourage us by revealing that some of what we thought was genuine faith are actually impurities that reduce the value and usefulness of our faith. Once exposed, however, we can reject the inferior, skimming it away, so that all we rely on is utterly dependable.
Jesus
Matthew 7:24-27 Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell – and great was its fall.
Paul
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 . . . You are . . . God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble; each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
I’m personally partial to viewing spiritual growth as akin to physical training, since both spiritual and physical development is typically slow and arduous, and affect our feelings. Like running or lifting weights, the longer a spiritual training session lasts, the more it hurts and the more pathetically weak we feel. Contrary to all appearances, however, it actually makes us stronger.
Peter is not the only apostle to understand the immense value of suffering. In fact, I can imagine no apostle not acutely aware of it, given how all the apostles in Jerusalem rejoiced at being counted worthy to suffer being flogged (Acts 5:29, 40-41). Here is the apostle James’ contribution to the subject:
James 1:2-3 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
The meaning of the word here translated temptations goes beyond the narrow way we often use the term. Many Bible versions of this passage translate the word as trials, and a couple even refer to troubles. It is such a broad term that Thayer’s New Testament Greek-English Lexicon carves the word into nine shades of meaning.
In an earlier draft of this webpage, I wrote that the word has a wider meaning than satanic inducements to sin. I had intended that expression to be a narrow definition of what I think of as temptation. As I pondered my wording, however, I was startled to realize that almost all suffering could be viewed this way – something satanic in origin that keeps prodding us to sin; whether that sin be to compromise or to disobey, doubt, deny or disrespect our Lord.
Let’s now consider what James reveals that these trials produce: endurance. We have already seen the importance of endurance confirmed by the biblical emphasis that, ultimately, salvation hinges not merely on an adequate start but on enduring to the end. Just as increased endurance is of enormous value to athletes, so it is to Christians. Sufficient endurance makes people unstoppable no matter what is thrown at them. They cannot be defeated. And James insists that the way to develop this precious quality is through facing hard times.
An easy life keeps us weak; adversity builds strength. Of course, too much opposition might be counterproductive. Without God, adversity could reach levels that crush us. But we are not without God. As we keep looking to our faithful Lord, he ensures that, no matter what it feels like to us, oppression never mounts beyond what ends up doing us good.
By exposing imperfections, tough times strengthen our all-important faith. If that were all they achieved, tough times would be invaluable. But in addition, the Lord, speaking through James, reveals that such times build another vitally important spiritual quality: endurance. And the benefits don’t even stop there. Paul, in a remarkably similar Scripture, reveals that the benefits stretch still further:
Romans 5:3-4 . . . we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.
Not only do endurance and persevere mean the virtually same thing in English, the word here translated perseverance is precisely the same Greek word that in James is translated endurance. (Interestingly, it is also the same word used in James 5:11 for the quality James praises Job for displaying.) So both James and Paul commence by declaring the same truth. Paul, however, goes further by saying that not only does suffering produce perseverance/endurance, but “proven character,” which is so valuable that it, in turn, leads to hope – the certainty of future reward.
Astonishingly, the Word of God reveals that still more personal benefits flow from suffering. For example, despite Christ being the beloved Son in whom God was well pleased (Mark 1:11) and the one by whom and for whom, all things were created (Colossians 1:16) and are sustained by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3), he had to grow in wisdom (Luke 2:52). Suffering – such as facing starvation and knowing that he could end it by a means God disapproved of – was an essential part of this learning process. We have already cited the relevant Scripture but it is so astonishing that it is worth repeating:
Hebrews 5:8 though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
This suffering has uniquely empowered Christ to minister to us:
Hebrews 2:17-18 Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
Hebrews 4:15 For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
(Emphasis mine.)
Sidenote: We know that love is fundamental to Christian living (1 John 3:14; 4:7-8,16-17, 20-21). Jesus and other Scriptures affirm that the proof of love is obedience (John 14:15, 23-24; 15:10; 1 John 2:5; 5:3; 2 John 1:6). And we have just noted that even the Son of God learned obedience by what he suffered.
When our desires happen to correspond with God’s wishes, to do as God wants is simply doing as we please. It is coincidence rather than obedience. At the heart of love and obedience is doing what someone wants when it clashes with what we want – when it hurts to follow that person’s directives.
And it goes the other way too. Parental love, for example, includes requiring children to do good things that they do not want to do – stop fighting other children, eat vegetables, clean their teeth, get to bed on time, go to school, and so on. Likewise, a coach who thinks the world of his athlete and wants nothing but the best for him, will push him to keep breaking the pain barrier.
So love, obedience and suffering are interrelated. I’ll explore more of the beauty of this statement later but for now, it is enough to realize that, seen in this light, suffering is very fundamental to the Christian life.
We also know from Paul’s experience that suffering can empower us for ministry:
2 Corinthians 1:3-6 Blessed be the God . . . of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
Yet another thing we learn from Paul’s suffering is that hard times can protect us from spiritually dangerous pride (2 Corinthians 12:7).
That hard times end up doing good in God’s people is taught throughout Scripture. Consider this, for example:
Deuteronomy 8:2, 16 You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. . . . who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end (Emphasis mine.)
It is true that the period stretched for forty years because of their lack of faith – and it is comforting that even then God’s plan was to do them good – but if they had been totally obedient faith-giants they still would have spent some time in the wilderness, being fed by manna, and so on.
Similarly, this psalm praises God for the good things flowing to God’s people through suffering:
Psalm 66:8-12 Praise our God, you peoples! . . . For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined. You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs. You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.
As Hebrews 12:10 affirms, there’s a chance we might have benefitted from our parent’s discipline but it is certain we will benefit from God’s.
Often we want God to keep insulting us by babying us and treating us as hopelessly fragile, when he has immense faith in us and sees us as heroes in the making. Too many of us clash with God because we see ourselves as wimps, when he sees us as overcomers who will win for ourselves eternal acclaim. We want God to work externally, preventing hardship from touching us, when he wants to work internally, building strength and character in us.
As is typical of the Bible, the book of Revelation keeps pronouncing blessings and honor upon those who overcome adversity.
Overcomers
Revelation 2:7 . . . To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.
Revelation 2:11 . . . He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.
Revelation 2:17 . . . To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.
Revelation 2:26 He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.
Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Revelation 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.
Revelation 3:21 He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Revelation 12:11 They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death.
Whereas so many of us hanker for a religion that says it is okay to be a coward, this book ends with “But for the cowardly . . . their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8)
Most Bible versions correctly translate this word cowardly in Revelation 21:8. The King James Version’s choice of fearful is confusing. It refers not to people who feel afraid who but only to people who cave into fear. Consider:
2 Corinthians 7:5 . . . we were afflicted on every side. Fightings were outside. Fear was inside. (Emphasis mine.)
Godly courage is not the absence of fear, but pressing on regardless.
Elsewhere I have written much about trials and I will not repeat it here (see a link at the end of this webpage). Let me remind you, however, why top coaches give their best athletes the toughest training. It’s not to punish them, but because their coaches believe in them. Likewise, the training that elite soldiers receive is so grueling that it looks like cruelty but it can end up literally saving their lives.
The Story So Far
“No pain, no gain” applies spiritually as well as physically. It’s an unavoidable part of becoming a champion. If even the perfect Son of God needed suffering to learn obedience and since, even after Christ’s triumph on the cross, Scripture emphasizes this, I see little chance of us finding another way to spiritually mature.
Hebrews 2:17-18 says it was essential that Jesus suffer like the rest of humanity. I can guess some of the reasons for this but most likely there are still more reasons that are beyond my grasp and that the same applies to our suffering. We can be certain, however, that suffering is not the useless waste that it often seems. When entrusted to the God who works all things together for good (Romans 8:28), our affliction achieves for us “an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Yes, this glory peaks in the hereafter but even in this life, we can begin enjoying the benefits.
Link Referred to Above
(Best Left Until After Reading This Entire Series)