Elizabeth Elliot's Insights about Suffering, #4

 “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24)

 In this verse Jesus reveals a profound truth: God’s pattern of bringing his kingdom to our fallen world by means of suffering and death. Out of death comes life. There is a higher purpose in suffering. We know that Jesus spoke this about himself, his own sufferings, his own death, which brought forth resurrection and life for himself and for others. A few verses later, he added, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Jesus was that kernel of wheat whose death brought eternal life and also brought about glory for his Father. Death was the purpose of his life. Life was the purpose of his death.

But Jesus’ statement was also about us. If we read on in that same passage, Jesus applied this principle to anyone! “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:25).

Elsewhere Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matt 16:24-25).

Or, as Jim Elliot wrote in his journal, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

There is a pattern of how God works: Gaining starts with losing, life starts with death. This is the divine principle that encompasses suffering. Elizabeth Elliot calls it the principle of the cross. She wrote, “The cross does not exempt us from suffering. In fact, the cross is the symbol of suffering. Jesus said you must take up your cross.”

The Apostle Paul extended this principle:

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.” (Phil 1:29) Suffering with Christ is a gift.

Even more surprising was Paul’s statement, “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” (Col 1:24). Elliot called this statement a mystery: Paul’s sufferings were completing those still lacking on behalf of the church!

There is always a higher purpose in the sufferings God gives us. Some followers of Jesus face persecution on his behalf, thus sharing in his sufferings. But for those of us who don’t face persecution, there are plenty of sorrows, troubles, hardships which we suffer. Such sufferings are not a failure in God’s plans, they are God’s plan! Life comes out of death. Transformation comes out of suffering.

Elliot wrote, “Scriptural metaphors for suffering speak of pruning. The best fruit comes out of the most drastic pruning. The purest gold comes out of the hottest fires. I have certainly learned the deepest lessons of my life by going through the deepest waters. And the greatest joys come out of the greatest sorrows.”

A second principle which Elliot found in suffering is the principle of transfiguration. Transfiguration = transformation in which God is glorified. On the mount of transfiguration Jesus appeared in his glory and had a discussion with Moses and Elijah about the “death he was about to accomplish” (Luke 9:29-31) That is an amazing way to speak of one’s death! Jesus knew the purpose of his coming death.

Elliot wrote, “There is, in fact, no redemptive work done anywhere without suffering. God calls us to stand alongside Him, to offer our sufferings to Him for His transfiguration and to fill up in our poor human flesh. If I’m not given the privilege of being crucified, if I’m not given the privilege of being martyred in some literal way for God, I am given the privilege of offering up to Him whatever He has given to me. I offer to Him all I am, all I have, all I do and all I suffer for His transformation, transfiguration, exchange for the life of the world. That is what it’s all about.”

Sorrow, suffering, dying  → multiplied harvests, eternal life, God’s glory. At the moment we suffer we may pray, as Jesus did, for relief, for healing, for deliverance. But those prayers should always end, “Not my will but thine.” To God be the glory.

The suffering-glory connection is often seen in scripture. Would we love the story of Daniel without the lion’s den? Or that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego without the fiery furnace? Or that of the Apostle Paul locked in prison, singing songs of praise, while he wrote letters filled with joy. Or consider Fanny Crosby who wrote hundreds of beloved hymns though she had become blind at six weeks of age. These lives have been transfigured because we know the end of the story.

In the midst of sufferings, we also know the end of our story, “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. ‘And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.’”(Rev 7:16-17)

Elliot concluded with a poem by Grant Colfax Tuller, “My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me; I do not choose the colors, he worketh steadily. Oft times he weaveth sorrow and I, in foolish pride, forget He sees the upper, and I the under side. Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly, shall God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver’s skillful hand, as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.”

“Everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. Suffering is never for nothing.”