It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. (Hebrews 2:10)The age old question asks: If God is all powerful and all loving, why does he allow suffering in the world? The problem is any answer we might come up with is insufficient in the face of actual suffering. Knowing why we suffer could never take away our suffering.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that God the Father used the suffering of his Son Jesus to make him perfect. This is not to say the Father caused the suffering, but that he used the suffering in a positive way. If the role of suffering in Jesus' life was to make him perfect, could it play the same role in ours?
When we suffer, we have basically two choices. We can either rail against the heavens and blame God for our pain, or we can fall into his comforting arms, surrender our will to his, and allow him to do his perfecting work in our lives. It's going to be painful either way. The question is: Will we suffer for a purpose, or will we suffer for nothing? If God the Father perfected his Son through suffering, he can do the same for us.
How has God used suffering to perfect you?
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