Good evening, dear brothers. Now the uncertainty has taken hold of the Venezuelan people, inflation and the rise of unstoppable prices are wreaking havoc in the minds of parents.
Should the Christian suffer this?
In the midst of all this, there is always comfort in the word of God that motivates us to keep fighting and believing.
for our slight and momentary sufferings are producing for us an eternal glory that is heavier than all of them. (2 Corinthians 4.17)
Jesus warned us that we would have problems in life. He told us: "in the world you will have afflictions". Nobody is immune to pain or suffering, and no one can escape life without difficulties.
But the apostle Peter assures us that the problems are normal, as they say, "Do not be embarrassed or surprised when you pass through the fire of the trials ahead, since this is not a strange and unusual thing that is going to happen to you" ( 1 Peter 4:12). God uses these problems to get close to yourself. The Bible says: "The Lord is always close to one who has a broken heart and a humble spirit" (Psalm 34:18).
Your deepest experiences, your most intimate devotion, will probably happen on the darkest days: when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you are without options, when the pain is great. It is during the suffering that we learn to pray in a more authentic, sincere and honest way with God. When we are in pain, we do not have energy for superficial prayers.
Writer Joni Eareckson Tada notes that "When life is a sea of roses, we can spend time acquiring knowledge about Jesus, imitating him, quoting him and talking about him, but it is only in the suffering that we will know Jesus." We learned things about God in suffering that we can not learn in any other way.
God could have taken Joseph out of prison, kept Daniel away from the pit of the lions, prevented Jeremiah from being thrown into a mud pit, avoided three Paul shipwrecks and protected the three young Jews from the furnace of fire; but he did not. He let those trials happen to each one, so that he would come closer to Him and be a living example of faith for us.
