Suffering Is Never For Nothing: 7-Day DevotionalSample

Suffering was something Elisabeth knew deeply. Many know her story of losing her husband, Jim, when he was murdered by the Waoroni people in Ecuador moments after he arrived in hopes of sharing the gospel. Elisabeth later moved back among these people to share with them about Jesus. It was in the deepest sufferings that Elisabeth learned the deepest lessons about God. This truth led Elisabeth to say, “Whatever is in the cup that God is offering to me, whether it be pain and sorrow and suffering and grief along with the many more joys, I’m willing to take it because I trust Him.” The message of this book was the last one she delivered before her death in 2015. Learn more about the book at www.elisabethelliotbooks.com.

Day 1

“The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say concerning the Lord, who is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1 CSB

There have been some hard things in my life, of course, as there have been in yours, and I cannot say to you, I know exactly what you’re going through. But I can say that I know the One who knows. And I’ve come to see that it’s through the deepest suffering that God has taught me the deepest lessons. And if we’ll trust Him for it, we can come through to the unshakable assurance that He’s in charge. He has a loving purpose. And He can transform something terrible into something wonderful. Suffering is never for nothing.

F. W. H. Myers, in his poem St. Paul, wrote these words: “Is there not wrong too bitter for atoning? What are these desperate and hidden years? Hast Thou not heard Thy whole creation groaning, sighs of the bondsmen and a woman’s tears?”

The answer is not obvious. There must be an explanation somewhere. I’m convinced that there are a good many things in this life that we really can’t do anything about, but that God wants us to do something with. 

I want to give you a definition of suffering which will cover the whole gamut from when the washing machine overflows or when the roast burns and you’re having the boss for dinner that night, all those things about which our immediate human reaction is oh, no! From that kind of triviality, relatively speaking, to your husband has cancer. Your child has spina bifida or you, yourself, have just lost everything. I think you’ll find that the definition that I’m going to give you will cover that gamut.

The things that I’m going to try to say to you will apply to the small things, those sometimes ridiculously small things, that if you’re anything like me, you get all upset about and all bent out of shape about, that matter not at all by comparison with the big things. And here it is, my definition of suffering. “Suffering is having what you don’t want or wanting what you don’t have.”

The deepest things that I have learned in my own life have come from the deepest suffering. And out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires have come the deepest things that I know about God. And I imagine that most of you would say exactly the same. And I would add this, that the greatest gifts of my life have also entailed the greatest suffering. The greatest gifts of my life, for example, have been marriage and motherhood. And let’s never forget that if we don’t ever want to suffer, we must be very careful never to love anything or anybody. The gifts of love have been the gifts of suffering. Those two things are inseparable.