Suffering and God’s will

"Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful creator, while continuing to do good." ((1 Peter 4: 19)

Sometimes, it is God's will for us to suffer. The reason could be to share in the sufferings of Christ for our own salvation and that of the world. I have heard some radio and television evangelists proclaim that it is never God's will for us to suffer. This posture is a great disservice to the truth of the Bible.

How do we know that a particular suffering is God's will for us? The answer is simple. When we look for internal evidence from the Bible, we see two good examples:

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ was confronted with awful suffering. His human nature dreaded it. He prayed to God: If this is your will, save me from this suffering. But if it is not, then I am prepared to go through it. We know that it was God's will for Him to suffer the crucifixion.

St. Paul the Apostle was tormented by a painful suffering that he called 'a thorn in the flesh." Three times he prayed for healing. On the third occasion, he got an answer from Christ: "My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 2:9)

When we have prayed earnestly about a particular suffering and tried all we can legitimately to lift it but can't, we know that the suffering is from God. St. Peter advises us in 1 Peter 4: 19 that when this is the case to "entrust ourselves to a faithful creator." This means to surrender the situation entirely to God.