Rev. Young Jin Cho
When I was in 7th grade in middle school, at the urging of my older brother enrolled in med school at the time, I came to Seoul to start the middle school without even thinking ahead how to make it. Obviously, I had lot of difficulties from the beginning. I didn''t have a decent place to eat and sleep and had no idea of how to get the school tuition. The exam period of the first semester came. My homeroom teacher called my name and told me that I couldn''t take the exam because I was barred from coming to school for not paying the tuition. It was so embarrassing and my whole world became pitch black. I couldn''t see how I could come up with money. Seeing me in such despair, my teacher told me, "Youngjin, don''t be discouraged. Even if it is tough and painful for now, this hardship can become a good opportunity in your life. Other students pay the tuition with their parents'' money, you are developing your independence to stand alone from early on. So don''t lose hope. Never give up." The teacher, who was a devout catholic, breathed into my life a new hope and encouragement. When I was ready to give up studying at Seoul after the first year, and after the second year, the teacher encouraged me again and again not to lose hope. In my third year, he arranged me to go to my classmate''s home to work as a tutor to continue my studying.
Suffering, pain, trials and tribulation, failures…. These are the reality of life none of us want to encounter, if possible. But the reality of our life is that we cannot avoid them. In front of pain, many people cry. Many stumble over. Many crumble down. Many experience frustration, and some cut their lives short themselves.
About this suffering that makes us cry, fall down, and feel so down and out, what answer does the Bible give us? How should Christians understand this problem of suffering? Are there meanings in suffering eventually? In this suffering, what kind of gift is enclosed?
I.
Today''s scripture verses from the first Peter we read send us an important message to this question. Apostle Peter tells the following to Christians scattered throughout Asia in a letter:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has give us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God''s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." This is the first Peter 1:3-7 in NIV translation.
Christians do not crumble down before grief. They are not weak beings running away from suffering. We have been called to rejoice in the midst of suffering as in verse 6 in chapter 1. Called to be thankful. Why is that? Why should we rejoice before pain? Why should we be thankful in suffering?
Simon Peter declares. God refines our faith by fire, makes it more precious than gold that eventually perishes, and enables us achieve praise, glory, and honor. God trains us through trials and tribulations. Through suffering, he refines us. Through hardship, failures, pain, and sickness, he molds us into something that is more precious than pure gold. Therefore, the suffering we get in Christ is never without meaning. The suffering will result in goodness in us and uphold us as a person of faith more valuable than gold. Contained in this suffering is God''s amazing grace. Hidden in this is wonderful gift of the Lord. Included in this is His will to mold us into precious beings like gold and person of steadfast faith.
II
Let''s be more specific now. What are the gifts contained in suffering? What are the refined fruits generated from hard and painful suffering? In what sense, suffering builds us up into people of more mature faith?
(1) First of all, there are gifts of suffering. That is enabling us to see the limitation and true picture of human existence.
Our lives expand between two points-possibility and boundaries. The fact that not everyone can become like Einstein helps us to see our limitation. However, surprisingly everyone has potential and invisible ability. Between these two points, one should be able to discern oneself wisely. It can become laziness if you hastily draw a boundary and bury your potential gift. On the other hand, if one thinks he/she can reach out indefinitely without recognizing the boundary, it can be a misunderstanding or illusion.
A lot of times, people develop more realistic views of their ability or potential through this suffering. It is through this suffering and adversity, people realize the limitation of their knowledge and experience. Through this pain, people experience that one should not believe in oneself alone. Human can be smart but that doesn''t mean much. Here is a story I have read.
At a leisurely shore of Mexico, in a small boat of a fisherman were several fresh fish. An American banker who happened to be there at that time complimented the fisherman about the fresh fish and asked how long it took him to catch those. "Not too long.", the Mexican fisherman replied. "Then why don''t you stay longer to catch more fish?" The Mexican fisherman answered that that was more than enough for the family. "What do you do for the rest of the day, then?" The fisherman said, "I can sleep in late, sometimes go fishing, play with my children, take a nap with my wife, go to downtown in the evening to have wine, and play guitar with my friends." The American said, sneering. "Look here. I am a Harvard graduate MBA. I can help you. You can fish longer hours and buy a fishing boat. With higher profit margin you will make, you can buy several more fishing boats, and then a giant fishing boat. Then you can sell directly to the manufacturing company without going through a middle man, you then will be able to build your own canning company, you will be leaving this small rural village for Los Angeles, and then expand the business empire to New York." The fisherman who''s been quietly listening asked that time. "How long would it take to get there?" "15 to 20 years" "and after that?" The American answered with a grin. "Just then, look for a proper opportunity to sell your stock to become a rich man. You''ll become a millionaire." "What happens afterward?" At the fisherman''s question, the American banker answered. "Then you can retire. You can move to a small village near a seashore to sleep in, go fishing, play with children, take a nap with wife, go to have a wine, and play guitar with my friends."
Many interpretations can be offered here. Some may say not working day and night is being lazy. However, doesn''t this story make you think about what life is? Doesn''t this story make you realize the shortcomings of smart ideas?
(2) Therefore, suffering can be a road guide or a teacher who awakens us to see our limitation and then to lead us to the Lord. Also it can be an opportunity for our weak faith to be awakened.
The Bible shouts to us clearly. Suffering is the teacher that helps us for the root of our faith to take in. Suffering is a chance where a conceptual faith can be changed to experiencing faith. This is a chance for a faith with belief in your head only to grow into a faith with belief in your heart and the whole existence. The disciples who met a storm at the sea of Galilee knew that Jesus can calm down the wind and wave. Apostle Paul also experienced the irony of faith that God''s power resides in him when he is suffering and weak to cry out. He would boast about his weakness.
Long ago in Korea, I went up to a mountain and planted a tree on the tree planting day. There is something my teacher would always emphasize when we planted trees. "After you dig a hole, plant a tree, and cover it up with dirt, you must do this. That is, to shake the planted tree a little bit and then to tread on them. Shaking will help the dirt to be distributed around all the tree roots and the roots will grow strong to make the tree strong."
Our life and our faith are the same. In the midst of suffering and experiencing turbulence, the roots of our faith become firmer. Suffering results in this precious gift of awakening our faith and building up our belief. So how can we not be thankful? How can we not rejoice in suffering?
(3) The third gift of suffering is developing endurance.
How do we make our endurance grow? Isn''t it through encountering difficult and arduous things? If everything is smooth and there is no problem, where can we find endurance? Apostle Paul recorded like this in Rome 5:3. "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope.
I worry about our children''s generation today. That is, having no patience with inconvenience whatsoever. I recognize that this impatience has brought on many new invention and advancement in technology. However, this amazing convenience brought on another aspect. That is the loss of patience. That is why this generation easily crumbles down. Even in our family lives, we see relationships ending and breaking too easily before a small difficulty. Losing endurance and patience, this generation has become shallow and has lost the depth of integrity.
A story I read in a book called "Wings of Next Generations" written by Rev. Hahn Heung.
As a large business enterprise in the world, Matsushita group in Japan is known to have good salary and benefit for employees and to have many advancement opportunities. So every year, many sharp and brilliant applicants take the qualifying exams in a fierce competition. Once a student, who graduated from the top Japanese engineering school with honor applied. He thought he would pass with no difficulty but he discovered he didn''t make the final cut. Distraught by anger and deep humiliation, he took a bunch of sleeping pills and committed a suicide.
The next day, a telegram came to him from the personnel office of Matsushita saying that he was in fact the top scorer but his name got dropped out due to a computer problem. All were shocked by the news and grieved about the tragic loss of a talent resulted by a computer error. The response from the CEO, Matsushita Gonoskeh was, however, totally unexpected. "It is truly a tragedy that his life ended at such a young age but it is a fortunate thing for us not to have hired him in the company." He said that with such a weak mental staying power of not enduring that kind of frustration to end his life in less than a day, he would not have made it. If there were no computer error and he got hired, he would have been placed in a strategic place because of his score but with his weak mental strength, he would not have survived the stress at the top and may have harmed the company.
Dr. Paul Stoltz, talked about the capability of human--intelligence, physical ability, and emotional sensitivity are all important but the will power to overcome adversity is most important--he claimed. This is, because the life depends upon how to get over so many unexpected difficulties. Therefore, our ability not to be shattered by adversity and suffering and to overcome the problems, Dr Stoltz called it AQ (Adversity Quotient). In our lives, IQ and EQ are important but the most important thing is AQ. I agree with that.
Then how is this AQ developed? Is it not in facing and confronting the hardship? And isn''t the center focus of this AQ perseverance? Suffering and adversity develops endurance and heightens AQ so how can we not be thankful for these precious gifts of suffering? How can we not praise suffering?
(4) Fourthly, suffering is an ultimate opportunity to experience the love and power of living God. Deeper the suffering, more closely we come to experience God''s love and power.
In the Bible, examining the history of God''s working, we often think God appears late. That is why people say the end of human is the beginning of God. The thought of God being late, however, is our thinking, not God''s. God comes to meet us at a best timing always. That best timing, often, is the moment of deepest suffering and the bleakest hope.
Therefore, believe that you are getting that much closer to God as your suffering gets deeper and deeper. As pain get more and more severe, remember that you are that much closer to the moment of His consolation. As it gets darker and darker, believe you are that much closer to dawn. Suffering is a channel to experience God''s grace. An opportunity to taste His love and power.
When the pain gets too much and the suffering becomes so extreme, we may see an end coming to our lives. But do our lives go down with the end of our lives? Did our lives break before suffering? Fail? If our lives on the earth are all that counts, then we can say that. But our belief is not like that. So it is okay for us to die because through death, we get to participate in God''s kingdom and the glory. The eternal future we dream of comes to us as reality. We finally come to a face-to-face encounter with the Lord.
Suffering contains opportunities and chances to experience God''s amazing love and grace. As our suffering gets deeper, God''s love we experience will become deeper and more abundant. So how can we not thank for the gift of suffering? How can we not praise suffering?
III
There may be some of you who feel left out a little bit. My life has been running on a smooth and wide road without much difficulty, what do I need to do to receive this gift of suffering? Some of you may think.
If the road has been relatively smooth, first be thankful. Do not lose your heart of thanks towards the love of God that kept you in the smooth journey. Then uphold others in suffering and participate in their suffering using the margins you have in your heart. Regard their pain as your own and share the burden. This is our Lord''s expectation for all of us who have walked on a stable road.
One other question may come up. Isn''t it that not everyone gets to have the gift of suffering? How many people break and falter before suffering? How many people end up their lives in misery because of the pain? Isn''t this a form of euphemism for suffering? Are we not over generalizing the victory of only a few?
Yes, indeed. Suffering is painful. Suffering and pain make you miserable. It is really hard to overcome this on our own strength only. That is why we have to raise our both hands and go back to God. We have to rely on God''s help. If we all hold onto God''s hands, the gift of suffering can belong to all of us, not just a few. The precious gift can come down to all believers as a general gift.
Some time ago I told you about the story of Yee Jee Sun who came to be widely known through the internet and book, "I Love You, Jee Sun". She was caught up in a whirl wind of tragic car accident to suffer the third degree burn on over 55% of her body. Jee Sun whose pre-accident beautiful look is forever lost, came to LA in July to witness her story. One line she left behind rang deeply in my heart. "Having learned God''s love, I would refuse to go back even if I was given a chance."
Why would she not long to have her old face back? Why would she not resent the burn scar? However, Jee Sun realized the gift of suffering. Received it. Experienced it. So she can boldly shout. "Even if I am told to go back, I would refuse." Her confession like this is not rare. The author of Psalm 119 shouted like this. " It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees." (Psalm 119:71)
Yes. To those who believe in God, even affliction is beneficial. Suffering has meaning. Thus, how can we not rejoice in suffering? How can we not thank before affliction?
When I was in 7th grade in middle school, at the urging of my older brother enrolled in med school at the time, I came to Seoul to start the middle school without even thinking ahead how to make it. Obviously, I had lot of difficulties from the beginning. I didn''t have a decent place to eat and sleep and had no idea of how to get the school tuition. The exam period of the first semester came. My homeroom teacher called my name and told me that I couldn''t take the exam because I was barred from coming to school for not paying the tuition. It was so embarrassing and my whole world became pitch black. I couldn''t see how I could come up with money. Seeing me in such despair, my teacher told me, "Youngjin, don''t be discouraged. Even if it is tough and painful for now, this hardship can become a good opportunity in your life. Other students pay the tuition with their parents'' money, you are developing your independence to stand alone from early on. So don''t lose hope. Never give up." The teacher, who was a devout catholic, breathed into my life a new hope and encouragement. When I was ready to give up studying at Seoul after the first year, and after the second year, the teacher encouraged me again and again not to lose hope. In my third year, he arranged me to go to my classmate''s home to work as a tutor to continue my studying.
Suffering, pain, trials and tribulation, failures…. These are the reality of life none of us want to encounter, if possible. But the reality of our life is that we cannot avoid them. In front of pain, many people cry. Many stumble over. Many crumble down. Many experience frustration, and some cut their lives short themselves.
About this suffering that makes us cry, fall down, and feel so down and out, what answer does the Bible give us? How should Christians understand this problem of suffering? Are there meanings in suffering eventually? In this suffering, what kind of gift is enclosed?
I.
Today''s scripture verses from the first Peter we read send us an important message to this question. Apostle Peter tells the following to Christians scattered throughout Asia in a letter:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has give us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God''s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." This is the first Peter 1:3-7 in NIV translation.
Christians do not crumble down before grief. They are not weak beings running away from suffering. We have been called to rejoice in the midst of suffering as in verse 6 in chapter 1. Called to be thankful. Why is that? Why should we rejoice before pain? Why should we be thankful in suffering?
Simon Peter declares. God refines our faith by fire, makes it more precious than gold that eventually perishes, and enables us achieve praise, glory, and honor. God trains us through trials and tribulations. Through suffering, he refines us. Through hardship, failures, pain, and sickness, he molds us into something that is more precious than pure gold. Therefore, the suffering we get in Christ is never without meaning. The suffering will result in goodness in us and uphold us as a person of faith more valuable than gold. Contained in this suffering is God''s amazing grace. Hidden in this is wonderful gift of the Lord. Included in this is His will to mold us into precious beings like gold and person of steadfast faith.
II
Let''s be more specific now. What are the gifts contained in suffering? What are the refined fruits generated from hard and painful suffering? In what sense, suffering builds us up into people of more mature faith?
(1) First of all, there are gifts of suffering. That is enabling us to see the limitation and true picture of human existence.
Our lives expand between two points-possibility and boundaries. The fact that not everyone can become like Einstein helps us to see our limitation. However, surprisingly everyone has potential and invisible ability. Between these two points, one should be able to discern oneself wisely. It can become laziness if you hastily draw a boundary and bury your potential gift. On the other hand, if one thinks he/she can reach out indefinitely without recognizing the boundary, it can be a misunderstanding or illusion.
A lot of times, people develop more realistic views of their ability or potential through this suffering. It is through this suffering and adversity, people realize the limitation of their knowledge and experience. Through this pain, people experience that one should not believe in oneself alone. Human can be smart but that doesn''t mean much. Here is a story I have read.
At a leisurely shore of Mexico, in a small boat of a fisherman were several fresh fish. An American banker who happened to be there at that time complimented the fisherman about the fresh fish and asked how long it took him to catch those. "Not too long.", the Mexican fisherman replied. "Then why don''t you stay longer to catch more fish?" The Mexican fisherman answered that that was more than enough for the family. "What do you do for the rest of the day, then?" The fisherman said, "I can sleep in late, sometimes go fishing, play with my children, take a nap with my wife, go to downtown in the evening to have wine, and play guitar with my friends." The American said, sneering. "Look here. I am a Harvard graduate MBA. I can help you. You can fish longer hours and buy a fishing boat. With higher profit margin you will make, you can buy several more fishing boats, and then a giant fishing boat. Then you can sell directly to the manufacturing company without going through a middle man, you then will be able to build your own canning company, you will be leaving this small rural village for Los Angeles, and then expand the business empire to New York." The fisherman who''s been quietly listening asked that time. "How long would it take to get there?" "15 to 20 years" "and after that?" The American answered with a grin. "Just then, look for a proper opportunity to sell your stock to become a rich man. You''ll become a millionaire." "What happens afterward?" At the fisherman''s question, the American banker answered. "Then you can retire. You can move to a small village near a seashore to sleep in, go fishing, play with children, take a nap with wife, go to have a wine, and play guitar with my friends."
Many interpretations can be offered here. Some may say not working day and night is being lazy. However, doesn''t this story make you think about what life is? Doesn''t this story make you realize the shortcomings of smart ideas?
(2) Therefore, suffering can be a road guide or a teacher who awakens us to see our limitation and then to lead us to the Lord. Also it can be an opportunity for our weak faith to be awakened.
The Bible shouts to us clearly. Suffering is the teacher that helps us for the root of our faith to take in. Suffering is a chance where a conceptual faith can be changed to experiencing faith. This is a chance for a faith with belief in your head only to grow into a faith with belief in your heart and the whole existence. The disciples who met a storm at the sea of Galilee knew that Jesus can calm down the wind and wave. Apostle Paul also experienced the irony of faith that God''s power resides in him when he is suffering and weak to cry out. He would boast about his weakness.
Long ago in Korea, I went up to a mountain and planted a tree on the tree planting day. There is something my teacher would always emphasize when we planted trees. "After you dig a hole, plant a tree, and cover it up with dirt, you must do this. That is, to shake the planted tree a little bit and then to tread on them. Shaking will help the dirt to be distributed around all the tree roots and the roots will grow strong to make the tree strong."
Our life and our faith are the same. In the midst of suffering and experiencing turbulence, the roots of our faith become firmer. Suffering results in this precious gift of awakening our faith and building up our belief. So how can we not be thankful? How can we not rejoice in suffering?
(3) The third gift of suffering is developing endurance.
How do we make our endurance grow? Isn''t it through encountering difficult and arduous things? If everything is smooth and there is no problem, where can we find endurance? Apostle Paul recorded like this in Rome 5:3. "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope.
I worry about our children''s generation today. That is, having no patience with inconvenience whatsoever. I recognize that this impatience has brought on many new invention and advancement in technology. However, this amazing convenience brought on another aspect. That is the loss of patience. That is why this generation easily crumbles down. Even in our family lives, we see relationships ending and breaking too easily before a small difficulty. Losing endurance and patience, this generation has become shallow and has lost the depth of integrity.
A story I read in a book called "Wings of Next Generations" written by Rev. Hahn Heung.
As a large business enterprise in the world, Matsushita group in Japan is known to have good salary and benefit for employees and to have many advancement opportunities. So every year, many sharp and brilliant applicants take the qualifying exams in a fierce competition. Once a student, who graduated from the top Japanese engineering school with honor applied. He thought he would pass with no difficulty but he discovered he didn''t make the final cut. Distraught by anger and deep humiliation, he took a bunch of sleeping pills and committed a suicide.
The next day, a telegram came to him from the personnel office of Matsushita saying that he was in fact the top scorer but his name got dropped out due to a computer problem. All were shocked by the news and grieved about the tragic loss of a talent resulted by a computer error. The response from the CEO, Matsushita Gonoskeh was, however, totally unexpected. "It is truly a tragedy that his life ended at such a young age but it is a fortunate thing for us not to have hired him in the company." He said that with such a weak mental staying power of not enduring that kind of frustration to end his life in less than a day, he would not have made it. If there were no computer error and he got hired, he would have been placed in a strategic place because of his score but with his weak mental strength, he would not have survived the stress at the top and may have harmed the company.
Dr. Paul Stoltz, talked about the capability of human--intelligence, physical ability, and emotional sensitivity are all important but the will power to overcome adversity is most important--he claimed. This is, because the life depends upon how to get over so many unexpected difficulties. Therefore, our ability not to be shattered by adversity and suffering and to overcome the problems, Dr Stoltz called it AQ (Adversity Quotient). In our lives, IQ and EQ are important but the most important thing is AQ. I agree with that.
Then how is this AQ developed? Is it not in facing and confronting the hardship? And isn''t the center focus of this AQ perseverance? Suffering and adversity develops endurance and heightens AQ so how can we not be thankful for these precious gifts of suffering? How can we not praise suffering?
(4) Fourthly, suffering is an ultimate opportunity to experience the love and power of living God. Deeper the suffering, more closely we come to experience God''s love and power.
In the Bible, examining the history of God''s working, we often think God appears late. That is why people say the end of human is the beginning of God. The thought of God being late, however, is our thinking, not God''s. God comes to meet us at a best timing always. That best timing, often, is the moment of deepest suffering and the bleakest hope.
Therefore, believe that you are getting that much closer to God as your suffering gets deeper and deeper. As pain get more and more severe, remember that you are that much closer to the moment of His consolation. As it gets darker and darker, believe you are that much closer to dawn. Suffering is a channel to experience God''s grace. An opportunity to taste His love and power.
When the pain gets too much and the suffering becomes so extreme, we may see an end coming to our lives. But do our lives go down with the end of our lives? Did our lives break before suffering? Fail? If our lives on the earth are all that counts, then we can say that. But our belief is not like that. So it is okay for us to die because through death, we get to participate in God''s kingdom and the glory. The eternal future we dream of comes to us as reality. We finally come to a face-to-face encounter with the Lord.
Suffering contains opportunities and chances to experience God''s amazing love and grace. As our suffering gets deeper, God''s love we experience will become deeper and more abundant. So how can we not thank for the gift of suffering? How can we not praise suffering?
III
There may be some of you who feel left out a little bit. My life has been running on a smooth and wide road without much difficulty, what do I need to do to receive this gift of suffering? Some of you may think.
If the road has been relatively smooth, first be thankful. Do not lose your heart of thanks towards the love of God that kept you in the smooth journey. Then uphold others in suffering and participate in their suffering using the margins you have in your heart. Regard their pain as your own and share the burden. This is our Lord''s expectation for all of us who have walked on a stable road.
One other question may come up. Isn''t it that not everyone gets to have the gift of suffering? How many people break and falter before suffering? How many people end up their lives in misery because of the pain? Isn''t this a form of euphemism for suffering? Are we not over generalizing the victory of only a few?
Yes, indeed. Suffering is painful. Suffering and pain make you miserable. It is really hard to overcome this on our own strength only. That is why we have to raise our both hands and go back to God. We have to rely on God''s help. If we all hold onto God''s hands, the gift of suffering can belong to all of us, not just a few. The precious gift can come down to all believers as a general gift.
Some time ago I told you about the story of Yee Jee Sun who came to be widely known through the internet and book, "I Love You, Jee Sun". She was caught up in a whirl wind of tragic car accident to suffer the third degree burn on over 55% of her body. Jee Sun whose pre-accident beautiful look is forever lost, came to LA in July to witness her story. One line she left behind rang deeply in my heart. "Having learned God''s love, I would refuse to go back even if I was given a chance."
Why would she not long to have her old face back? Why would she not resent the burn scar? However, Jee Sun realized the gift of suffering. Received it. Experienced it. So she can boldly shout. "Even if I am told to go back, I would refuse." Her confession like this is not rare. The author of Psalm 119 shouted like this. " It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees." (Psalm 119:71)
Yes. To those who believe in God, even affliction is beneficial. Suffering has meaning. Thus, how can we not rejoice in suffering? How can we not thank before affliction?
