The Uniting Power of Suffering

Perhaps some have a wrong conception as to what it is to give a testimony in a meeting. You may be thinking that if you cannot say anything which speaks to the joyous side of things, that you should say nothing at all. But if you realise that there is another side of experience which you might testify to, then you would know what to say. Some may only be able to say: “I have only to say that I have been sorely tempted of the devil today.” Then another says: “And so was I.” And others add: “And so was I.” That testimony would unite the meeting. Please do not be blind to the tribulation side of your Christian life. Don’t come to the meeting wearing a mask. Come to the meeting and say what you are really experiencing.

Now, you children here, you go to school but you do not find everything easy. That is part of your training. God does not forget the children, nor the young people. The young and the old are in God’s hands, and we are all in school being prepared for eternity.

“Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.” Heb. 10:32. The reason why you cannot give your testimony is there. You think to yourself, “I have nothing much to say about joyous victory.” But each one has something to say if he could only find out what that something is. But do not hide the suffering side of your life. The very suffering of the early Christian Church united it and made it heroic in the sight of the heathen, but as the Christian Church grew in number, and things became more tolerant and easier, then they began to become less united. If you would speak about your suffering, you would find it a factor in uniting you to one another. You might merely get up and say, “I have no spirit to say anything,” and that is something which unites you, because another will say, “If you have no spirit, I will pray for you.” Another says, “I have been sorely tried,” and another, “I have a loss in the family.” Speak out from your heart, and do not keep back these things.

Here is a true family gathering—those who belong to the family of God—and if God’s Spirit dominated each one, you would find more “home” here than at home. This is your home—let God’s Spirit dominate you and you will be united. Now, speak out from the “trouble” side of your life, and do not try and hide it. The moment you become artificial you become unreal. We cannot live with a smile every day. If you think the Christian life is all smiles and no tribulation, then you have made a great mistake. Paul, who had revelations from Christ Himself, and knew God so well, despaired even of life, not in physical death, but in the spirit work. Things were so hard, that he felt as though he were physically dying. How could he smile then? How could you expect our Lord on the Cross to smile when He was suffering the pangs of death? And we cannot avoid that suffering, because through that suffering we are made perfect. Speak out about your suffering as you do of other things, and you will find a chord one with the other. You might speak of the beautiful side, the victory side, but another says, “I have not that.” But the moment you strike the chord of suffering you find a response from others. Even the children have suffering; they want every toy, but they must not get every toy. If they get their own way, they will be saved some suffering perhaps, but God will not be able to have His way with them. We want many things from God, but if God gave them, we would be unmanageable, so God says, “I cannot give them to you.” Now, children, if mother says, “Go to bed,” do not say “Oh!” again. Say “Very well.” It is good for you. You must obey.

If we suffer, we shall be made perfect. Supposing the tree said to the gardener, “I don’t want the knife.” “Very well,” says the gardener, “If I don’t prune, the apples will be poor, but if I take the knife, the apples will be better.”

As we are put into suffering, we are perfected. Suffering is the best way for God to manage us. And he who suffers most on earth will understand Christ the better on the other side. Is it not worth while being put into suffering in order to understand Christ on the other side?

When you speak about another’s suffering, it is one thing, but when you know what suffering is—hellish suffering—when your life is being torn out of you, you understand the Cross. If Christ were visibly here tonight, He could say, “I died for you, I suffered for you.” Oh, if we only knew what He suffered when the Father hid His face from His Son. He disowned Him. He hid His face, and the Saviour cried in His agony, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” “He suffered, the Just for the unjust.” But that shut door to Christ means an open door to us. We knock at that door, and God says, “Come in.” But as we enter in through that door, we shall enter in through tribulation. Everybody must suffer.

If God makes anything for you, He will make you a bed-of-thorns in order that you may cry out for heaven. All these misconceptions God must remove from us. People are always looking for a way out of suffering. Consequently, they are always driving themselves into the future and missing the importance of the present. The child says, “When I leave school everything will be better.” Mother says, “When the children are grown up everything will be different, and they will get better.” But that is a fallacy. As you advance in life there are more and more trials. We hope to escape the trials; but do not pray God to remove all trials from you, because through suffering God can manage you better. So, when you come to testify do not forget the suffering side. You say, “I wish this, and I wish that . . .” “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Do not fret about the past, and trouble about the future. You may think this and that about the future, and think that things will be much different, but when God and you meet in the future you will find that He has suffering in store for you. Why? Because He wants to perfect you. Do you know that pearls are the result of the sufferings of the oyster? A little piece of gravel gets inside the shell, and by the friction caused, the oyster tries to cover the gravel, and thus the pearl is formed. So God keeps us in suffering all the time. We might think that things are getting worse, but not so. We cannot feel very happy in it, but God is sanctifying us through them. As much as you like He will stamp His image upon you, but how? Through suffering.

Do not forget that God puts us into suffering in order to perfect us, and in order that we may understand His Son. Some of you have buried your husbands and you speak to a young girl about your trouble, but she does not understand; you must speak to someone else who has gone through the same trouble to get the sympathy that will meet you.

May God take from you any suffering which unfits you for heaven. It is far better to go through the world as a pilgrim than to be blessed with the riches of earth and lose heaven. When you think of the time on earth—seventy or even ninety years on earth—what is that in comparison to the countless ages of eternity? These few years will be less than a beginning. Be content. “Godliness, with contentment, is great gain.” Do not grumble.

You see so-and-so and say: “They get it easy. “Do not look at the exterior of other people. We might look at the outside, at the money they earn, at the dress they wear, but that proves nothing. Everyone does not wear the marks of suffering on the exterior. Where they are, the thorns can get at them. Don’t wish yourself in the place of somebody else. You say: “If something would happen, I would be good.” No, you would not. It would be no different. God would be there, and He is the same under all circumstances, so take the present moment with Him. Let us be a cheerful company who are godly. Soreness of spirit will spoil any home, but cannot spoil heaven, because in heaven we will be sinless.