My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering
be taken away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine. (Matthew
26:39 NLT)
We must face the fact and we
must seek help from God always to bear in mind that we are going to have a path
of suffering if we are in fellowship with the Lord Jesus.... There has to
come a point when we sit down and do some calculating and come to a definite
conclusion on this matter – that, although very often we may not be able to see
that our suffering is because of our relationship to Him (the sufferings are so
manifold and diverse, and very often they look as though they have no
relationship at all with our Christian life) at the same time, whether we can
discern it or not; the fact remains that the pathway of the child of God, of the
fellow of Jesus Christ, is the pathway of suffering. I say, postponement or
delay in settling that matter keeps us all the time in that state of hoping and
waiting for it to be different, and, because the difference does not come,
getting downcast and feeling that all is wrong and that the Lord is against us
and all that sort of thing, thus giving all the ground that the enemy wants for
destroying our testimony. The very first thing to remember when we take this cup
is that while we are taking it as the cup of salvation, while we are remembering
the atonement which is in the Blood, and all the wonderful redemption which is
ours because of that Blood, the cup does also speak to us of fellowship with His
suffering....
Yes, there is something which is going up
to His praise and glory as Christ is being formed through the fires of adversity
and suffering. It is fellowship with Him in His sufferings, after all, if it is
bringing about more Christlikeness. So our first thing is to reckon with this
and get it settled. What are you expecting, what
are you waiting for, what are you concerned about, what are you pleading and
praying for? If you are praying for full and final deliverance from adversity
and suffering and difficulty and all that sort of thing, let me tell you your
prayer will never be answered. Forms of suffering may change, but in some form
or another we are going on to the end in a way of adversity. Satan is not going
to become our friend while we are friends of Jesus Christ. The kingdom of Satan
is not going to rally to our support while we belong to the kingdom which is
opposed to his. Let us settle that. It will get us free, perhaps, from this
entanglement.