God has a purpose in suffering

Generally, suffering is a time where you experience either physical or mental pain...

I would like to change that thinking a little bit. What is the purpose of our life? To me, it is to be closer to God, to know God better.

So why is there suffering? We humans have our infinite wants. When we don't get what we want, we suffer. So basically, suffering can be said to be when we don't get what we want.

God really has a purpose in suffering. when we don't get what we want, we will be drawn closer to Him.

I've been through something today and the past few weeks... I felt hurt by 2 of my good friends...

I wont talk about what happened anymore, there will be quite a bit to talk about I must say, but actions alone do not define what a person is. After all, I don't want to bring up the past. Initally I felt really hurt, and yes I also felt hurt over the past few weeks. Today, on the bus home, I prayed to God and asked Him,"why must I go through all this? I know I might have made jokes before which offended some people, but never on such a big scale"

God was speaking to me, I know, but my heart was really sad that I couldn't listen to His voice...

And then I got home, got onto msn. Minyang talked to me. It was enriching. It was as if God was using him as His mouthpiece to talk to me. I have to share this with you all...

Firstly, God has a purpose in suffering. In this case, for me experiencing this. He wants me to know what Jesus went through, which I learnt deeper earlier this week. You see, Jesus was the son of God, but people thought He was a dud and mocked Him and laughed at Him...and even crucified Him. Even His GOOD FRIEND Judas, who was close to Him, betrayed Him.

But guess what was Jesus' response to all the mockery? "Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." Why do you think Jesus asked God to forgive them? He loved them so much that He ddin't hold anything against them and still loved them.

And for us, we must become more and more like Jesus.

As we become more and more like Jesus, God will send things to mould us. Do you know the process of pruning? It's the cutting off of bad branches for the plant to grow more. Yup. God has to prune us to become more like Jesus, to remove the bad...but it will be painful...

Afterall, in Proverbs 27:17, As iron sharpens iron, so one mans sharpens another...

Iron sharpens iron through friction...pain...without the pain of pruning, how can we understand what Jesus has gone through? Without this incident, how can I be more like Jesus, forgiving them for they do not know what they did?

So I decided to pray for more guidance. Afterall, the Bible says in Matthew that "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted"

In Genesis 50:20, after Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold to Egpyt, he rose in favour with the Pharoah and got promoted to prime minister. Israel had a famine and Joseph's brothers (who betrayed him earlier) came to him for food. Joseph merely said "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives". Yea, what satan or people mean for harm, God intended it for good.

I prayed. After that I weent to use my handphone. My friend from my DOTA team had sent me a variety of really comforting messages (he's been trying to comfort me throughout the day). And then, I remebered the verse from the Bible where "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also". After all, I know God loves me and will take care of me. He has blessed me with a great variety of good friends already...

And, Jesus loves the sinner but not the sin. Although I have been wronged, as a mini-Christ (Christian), even though I don't like the wrong that was being done, I should love them nonetheless, just as God loves me even when I have wronged. As far as I'm concerned, no matter what happens, they're still my friends.

So I decided to do something. It was difficult at first, but I dreamt I'll do it. As in, I had a dream that I did it but I didn't know how to interpret that dream. When Minyang told me to do it, I finally realised how to interpret the dream. I will not say what I did, but I will only say that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

My precognitive dreams alone seemed like miracles, and I was beginning to think that if God had the power to influence my dreams, surely other miracles are possible...which of course at least 5 happened today...

2 miracles - My misunderstandings with my friends have been settled.
1 miracle - I further realised how significant one particular friend from my DOTA team was
1 miracle - I have a great senior who helps to speak the Word of God to me
1 miracle - I got closer to God today

God is great. And when you see how God works miracles in your life, it truly becomes a great wonder!