Soft Society? or One Purpose of Suffering

We’ve become a soft society. How do I know? Listen to what we complain about. They aren’t complaints that the government just killed our pastor or our uncle or our spouse for loving Jesus. We don’t complain about how hard it is to share the gospel in our society. We don’t even complain about starving to death. As a matter of fact, we complain about food. We have the luxury to complain about food. I don’t like this kind. It’s gross. There is not enough of it to suit me.

We complain about weather. Too hot. Too cold. Too windy. Too rainy.

We complain about homework and jobs. We complain about cars that aren’t as nice and about high gas prices. We complain at restaurants or oil change places or even, believe it or not, Wal-Mart when the service isn’t fast enough. We complain about other drivers who don’t go fast enough when the light turns green. In spite of all we’ve been blessed with, or perhaps I should say, in spite of all the circumstances that we are blessed not to have to live with, we still complain about anything that encroaches on our idea of the good life. We’ve become a soft society.

So how does the Lord get our attention in a soft society? How does the Lord get us more committed when our lives are not on the line every day? How does Jesus get us to grow closer to Him when we are more concerned with what we are eating after church than the food He wants to give us while we are still in church?

You aren’t going to like my answer. I don’t like my answer…but it’s biblical. I have come to believe that it is through suffering that God talks best. Let me rephrase that. I believe it is through suffering that we learn to hear God best. I don’t believe that God causes human suffering. But I have come to believe that He will come to the one who is suffering and draw near to them and grow them to be closer to Himself. When you think of suffering in the Bible, who do you think of? Job. Listen to what the book of Job has to say about this.

Job 36:15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. 16 “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.

Maybe we can see the tough spot we are in today from a different perspective. Perhaps, if we listen closely, we may hear God speaking to us. Not to condemn us, but to woo us and refine us so that He can present us faultless, without spot or wrinkle to the Ancient of Days.