Redeeming Suffering - Martin Wiles

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Psalm 119:71 NLT

He was godly, but not redeeming suffering caused him to question God’s purposes.

Ted was driving down the road one day doing what he did best: visiting members of his church. Although he didn’t feel quite right that morning, he decided to work nevertheless. As he turned into the church’s driveway, things went black. The next thing he remembered was sitting in a ditch.

While waiting on a wrecker, he suffered a seizure that broke one of his shoulders and dislocated the other. With slings on both arms, he could not do anything for himself. As he prepared for bed a few nights later, he suffered a stroke that took ninety-five percent of his vision in one eye and left one side of his body numb. As we visited with him and his family, his repeated questions were, “Why did God allow this to happen? Did I do something wrong? Is he punishing me?”

Ted had to learn to accept the same spiritual advice he’d been giving church members who faced unexplained suffering. The psalmist found good in suffering even though the nature of it was bad. An important lesson emerged. Suffering taught him to pay closer attention to the principles of God’s Word.

My times of suffering have brought me to God’s Word more often for comfort and assurance. I’ve had my share of suffering—physical and otherwise. I didn’t enjoy any of it, but I discovered that when I responded correctly and viewed it with the proper perspective, there were benefits from the experience.

Suffering focuses my attention more keenly on God, who controls the type of suffering as well as the length of it. Suffering drives me deeper into spiritual exercises such as praying, searching the Word for promises and comfort, and paying closer attention to the pain others are facing. Suffering also forces me to accept the same assurances I’ve given others when they’ve suffered and asked me, “Why?”

Rather than turning away from God and becoming bitter, let episodes of suffering lead You into a more fulfilling relationship with Him.

Prayer: Father, while we don’t enjoy suffering, we believe You have a reason for allowing it. Help us learn the lessons You desire to teach. 

Tweetable: Are you redeeming your periods of suffering? 

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Praising in Pain - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Meandering Monday where we meander back in time to a previously published devotion. 

But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land? Psalm 137:4 NLT

Pain and praise don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

The moment I chomped down on the delicious bite of food, I knew I was in trouble. A sharp pain seized my jaw on the opposite side of which I chewed. Bouts with TMJ (Temporomandibular joint) aren’t fun, and I didn’t have time for it now. Eating became painful rather than pleasurable. When I had endured all I could stand, I called a local chiropractor in hopes of receiving relief. After two treatments, I enjoyed my meals again.

The psalmist—along with thousands of other exiles—languished in captivity in a foreign land, far away from God’s temple in Jerusalem. Serving foreign rulers proved painful. How could he and the other exiles possibly praise God in such unpleasant circumstances?

Despite its unpleasantness, pain teaches valuable lessons in patience and dependence. Praising in the pain reminds us Christ is our Great Physician. We depend on Him for healing, regardless of whether we visit a physician or not. Ultimately, he is our healer and the One who gives us the strength to endure pain when it is short and long-lived.

Praising in the pain forces us to look to the future. For believers, a bright eternity is promised—one where the pain is absent. The culprit of bodies afflicted by sin is pain, but in heaven bodies free of sin will be souls free of pain.

Praising when in pain maintains a good perspective. God never promised a pain-free life. When we praise despite the pain, we’re reminded He’s in control of the intensity and duration of our misery. Responding to our aches in a godly manner allows us to use our experiences to help others. Our response to pain shows others how God gives us the strength to face, endure, and overcome unpleasant situations in life without adopting bitterness toward God.

Are you praising in your pain?

Prayer: Eternal God, remind us that You are the master of our bodies and will give us the power to praise You even in our pain.

Tweetable: Have you learned to praise in the pain? 

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When Suffering Is Good - Martin Wiles

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Psalm 119:71 NLT

His messages fluctuate between good and bad.

Santhosh pastors in India. One of his recent messages said, “Twenty-five people have taken water baptism today. All of them came to Christ from non-Christian background. God is doing great work here.”

But the news isn’t always good. One message read, “Please continue to pray for Kerala. The situation is very horrible. There is no electricity, there is no toilets, no place to stay, even the hospitals are full of water and not working. Pregnant women and children are suffering literally.   Scarcity of food, drinking water. Dead bodies of animals are floating everywhere.”

Then come the stories of persecution. The accounts of pastors and other believers being burned or persecuted in other ways. The stories of Hindu nationalists who stop missionaries and burn an entire trunkful of Bibles they had intended to distribute.

His conclusion: “In spite of the increasing persecution and opposition, many people are coming to Christ and taking water baptism publicly.”

The psalmist would agree with my friend: suffering for his faith brought good. And, ironically, persecution has always led to the growth of Christianity while good times have resulted in complacency.

Suffering reminds me to pay attention to God’s commands and that I suffer because I obey them. God’s commands most often run counter-cultural. Although enacting them would result in a better society, sinful natures take us in the opposite direction because we think we know better than God. When we put God’s commands into action, they run against the grain, offend others, and often bring forms of persecution and suffering.

At the same time, suffering refines my faith. It takes faith to go against the norm. Others reject us, ridicule us, persecute us. When we take this path of most resistance, God grows our faith. We can’t walk this way without the strength He provides. Trying to go it alone leads to failure.

Suffering also brings good because it creates empathy for others. When we suffer for doing the right thing, we’re more likely to identify with others who suffer for the same reason. In turn, we’ll band together to do this great Kingdom work God has given us to do.

God doesn’t waste anything, and He won’t waste your suffering. Let your suffering—physical, spiritual, and emotional—lead to good in your life.

Prayer: Father, we accept the persecution as a part of our responsibility in following You.

Tweetable: Are you letting your suffering produce good? 

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Purpose or Punishment - Martin Wiles

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. Genesis 50:20 NLT

Some loved it; others hated it.

When I attended school, dry-erase boards and smart boards were a thing of the future. Boards were black and written on with chalk, which made a mess—on the teacher, the students, and the board.

Chalk erasers spread the chalk dust, but managed to hold some of it. Once full, they became virtually useless, leaving streaks of dust on the chalkboard and filling the chalk tray with dust. Clapping the erasers was the only way to correct the dust problem.

Teachers reserved clapping as a reward or as a punishment. Kids who misbehaved found themselves outside clapping erasers on a concrete surface. They also found themselves covered in dust if the wind was blowing the wrong way.

Good students—or perhaps teachers’ pets—saw what was punishment for some as a privilege and enjoyed helping the teacher by clapping erasers. A matter of perspective. 

Suffering can look the same. Joseph’s brothers thought they were punishing their brother by ridiculing him, by selling him as a slave to a band of wanderers, and by telling their father he had been killed by a wild animal. Years later—after several stints in prison and a miserable existence as a slave—Joseph viewed his misfortunes as having a purpose.

Suffering takes many forms. I can suffer financially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Having a clean credit record destroyed through no fault of one’s own carries a heavyweight. So does having a business partner steal from you. Having others bully you for reasons that make no logical sense isn’t fun either. And being thrown under the bus as Joseph was taxes the emotions.

Sin brings suffering: sin in the world, sin in others, and sin in me. Not only do people walk around with sin natures, but sin also infects creation, making things work in ways God never intended. Natural disasters come to mind.

Sin in others brings out acts of darkness. Jesus said darkness hates the light. When believers shine God’s light into a sinful darkness, we can expect resistance.

But my biggest enemy is me. Even my redeemed nature suffers from falling into temptation occasionally. What appears as a minor sin can have devastating consequences.

Regardless of where the suffering originates, God can redeem it and use it for His and my good. Like Joseph, we can say, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.”

Don’t waste your suffering. Let God redeem it.

Prayer: Father, show us how to redeem the suffering You bring or allow into our lives.

Tweetable: Are you wasting your suffering? 

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Throwback Tuesday on Monday - When Suffering Comes - Martin Wiles

When Suffering Comes

The brother’s hugged before one entered surgery. Little did they know what lay ahead.

Two brothers, Chad and Ryan Arnold. One with a healthy liver, the other with incurable liver disease. But love won out. In Denver, Colorado, Ryan…age 34…the brother with the healthy liver, was donating a part of his liver to his brother who needed it to live. The surgery was complicated and dangerous. Everything seemed to go well, but complications set in. Within four days, the brother with the healthy liver had died while the sick brother survived. Read more...

Tweetable: Where do you turn in times of suffering? 

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Throwback Tuesday - Suffering Patiently - Martin Wiles

Suffering Patiently

She suffers patiently. I’m not sure I could under her circumstances.

Though a relatively young woman, my wife suffers from numerous health issues. Fibromyalgia makes each day painful. Several hernia surgeries prevent her from doing heavy lifting. Asthma makes exercising outside nearly impossible. The “ritis” brothers…degenerative and osteo, make moving on any given day a new experience in pain. In spite of medication, the pain remains intense which in turn can affect her emotional moods. Yet I’m continually amazed at how patiently she suffers. She refuses to allow the pain to master her and even does things she knows will intensify her pain…things she perceives are associated with being a wife, mother, and grandmother. Read more...

Tweetable: How do you suffer? 

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Sin’s Fallout - Martin Wiles

I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations. Exodus 34:7 NLT

Sin’s fallout effects are never pleasant.  

My wife and I pass a particular church’s parking lot on the way to our church. We were once affiliated with this church when the parking lot was full and so were most of the seats inside. The music was awesome, and the preaching charismatic. New members joined regularly, and excitement filled the air. 

Now, things are different. The auditorium is only half filled and there is an air of despondency. Not because of anything any of the current members have done, but because of sin’s fallout effect. A leader—and a few members—chose to delve into sin, and now the entire church is feeling the effect. 

I once thought this verse was confusing…even unfair. Why should children and their children suffer for something they didn’t do? Then I discovered a better interpretation. God isn’t saying they are responsible for their relatives’ sins but that they will feel the fallout from them. 

Though I’m responsible to God for my personal sins, they are rarely private in that they affect only me. Thousands of children suffer physical and emotional ailments because their moms chose to use dangerous substances while they were pregnant or because parents chose to berate them with emotionally damaging messages. Numerous spouses have irreparably ruined credit records due to poor decisions by an ex-spouse. And many reputations suffer when the person themselves had no control over a bad situation. 

Since I’m involved with others in some fashion, my closest associates will feel the effects of my decisions. Choosing to sin is never just about me. Not only will my sinful choices take me where I really don’t want to go—even though I think I might—I’ll carry others with me who unwillingly don’t want to go but who are carried along by association. I’ll then keep them—and myself, longer than any of us really want to stay, and the cost will be astronomical.  

While confessing sin is crucial, rarely does it remove the consequences of my decisions. Consequences are God’s reminders. Better yet is my making a commitment to live a pure life and to walk in the power of the new nature God has given me. When I do this, I’ll experience less of sin’s fallout effect—and so will others who are close to me. 

What can you do to prevent sin’s fallout effect in your life?

Prayer: Father, remind us our bodies are temples of Your Spirit and that we are to present them as a pure and holy sacrifice to You. 

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Flashback Friday - Martin Wiles

Sensitized to Suffering

Johnny was born with Down Syndrome, but his own suffering didn’t prevent him from being sensitive to other’s needs.

Johnny was 19 and working as a bag boy when his company conducted a customer service training program. Their goal was that customers remember the service as outstanding…beyond the norm…service that stood out. Though merely a bag boy, Johnny invented a plan he thought might work. As a lover of inspirational quotes, he decided he’d deposit one in each customer’s bag and say, “Thanks for shopping with us today. I’ve placed an inspirational thought in your bag that I hope you’ll enjoy.” Read more...

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Throwback Tuesday - Martin Wiles

Identifying With Christ

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in The Cost of Discipleship, said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” And he did.

Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and theologian who resisted Nazi dictatorship, opposed Hitler’s euthanasia program and his persecution of the Jewish people, and even joined the German Military Intelligence Office in their plans to assassinate Hitler. The Gestapo arrested him in April of 1943 and hung him two years later, just 23 days before Hitler surrendered. Bonhoeffer stood for his faith, suffered for his faith, and ultimately died for his faith. Read more...

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A Different Peace - Martin Wiles

The peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27 NLT

What exactly does it take to have peace?

I’ve often thought if I could avoid financial crunches, peace would result. Having enough to pay the monthly obligations with adequate left over for investments, hobbies, entertainment, and savings. Surely I’d be at peace. 

A trouble-free marriage would surely bring peace also. Both mates getting along, never fighting, and having a couple of complacent kids to boot. What better picture of tranquility? 

Of course, at this stage in my life, I’m looking for a peaceful retirement. Not having to work until I die. Social Security not running dry before I get the opportunity to draw out what I’ve invested during my working career. Hoping it will be sufficient monthly to cover what expenses I’ll still have. Doing what I want when I want with no one to tell me differently. Ah…the life. Peace. 

While all of the above scenarios might bring peaceful circumstances, there’s no guarantee I would actually grasp serenity. Inner turmoil can still rage where there is financial solidity, marital stability, and retirement security. Jesus proposes a peace within such circumstances, but also apart from them. The above is the type of peace the world promises. All things must be in place to experience it. No troubles, trials, or stressors. Jesus’ peace is radically different. Some might classify it as odd. 

Jesus’ peace has nothing to do with circumstances and everything to do with relationship and understanding. We were created for relationship with our Creator. When sin severs that connection—which it does for every person born, we are robbed of peace. We search for it—in financial security, relationships, substances, entertainment—but never find it. Or if we think we have, we soon discover it’s only temporary. Soon, we’ll want a different toy. 

Jesus sends His Spirit to give us what no other play toys or circumstances can: true and lasting peace. A soothing calmness in the face of danger, adversity, and hostile situations. A peace unlike any the world can offer or understand. A gentle reassurance that all things are in His hands—and we are too. A peace we can’t understand or even explain, but when we have it, we aren’t troubled or afraid. We know He is in control. 

Let God give you this different type of peace.

Prayer: Father, thank You for giving a peace that pervades regardless of our circumstances.

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Throwback Tuesday - Martin Wiles

Comforting Others

She developed as a tropical wave on October 22, 2012 in the western Caribbean Sea and quickly swirled into a tropical storm named Sandy. Seven short days later, she stepped ashore as a hurricane near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of the Caribbean along with the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern portions of the United States, killing 253 people along her seven country strut and inflicting 65.6 billion dollars in damage.

Yet in the midst of suffering came hope and comfort. Disaster relief units descended on New Jersey bringing shower/laundry units, mud out crews, counseling teams, chain saw crews, and feeding units. Churches responded with “Buckets of Care for New Jersey,” providing tools, first aid, and safety item supplies for storm victims. Comforters in South Carolina alone filled 466 buckets. Read more...

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Flashback Friday - Martin Wiles

Asking the Right Questions

Series: The Side Effects of Suffering

We three brothers crouched snugly in a booth at a local restaurant rehashing old memories and considering life’s complexities and our current situations. We were doing what we hadn’t done in years-spending alone time together in the same place at the same time. 

Though we were all younger than middle age, our list of sufferings seemed quite lengthy. Parkinson’s. Diabetic neuropathy. Heart malfunctions. Disability. Financial struggles. Several divorces. Rebellious daughters and angry sons. And we could identify with rebellious children. We had shared in a few uprisings ourselves. Growing up as preacher’s kids wasn’t easy. Pious parishioners and unrealistic expectations often pummeled us into areas better left alone-and the consequences were normally unpleasant. But we had mended our ways, so why the frequent anguish? Read more...

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