How Does Suffering and Obedience Which Glorify God Really Lead to Joy?

Suffering! Not what we want to hear.  Nor is it what we want to teach about.  Yet, Jesus Himself spoke often of our being called out to a life of separation, loneliness, and suffering.  He calls us to obedience and suffering, while at the same time promising us peace, joy, hope, and life eternal.  So, how does suffering and obedience glorify God and really lead to joy?  Although this seems counterintuitive, it is true.  Even when we do not fully comprehend this principle, we see it played out throughout scripture and even daily within our own lives. If only we have ears to hear and eyes to see the miracles all around us that bring Glory to His Name and fill our weary hearts with joy.

How many stories do I hear at work each week.  This week, one patient had recently, unexpectedly faced sudden critical medical events placing him on the edge of death in ICU.  A physician told him it was a miracle he was still alive.  Yet, he told me “All that happened was God giving me a chance to tell everyone I met of the goodness and the faithfulness of God. It was an opportunity to Glorify God.”

Another patient relayed this story. As he was preparing for complex heart surgery, He felt anxious. He was worrying for his wife and family. What if he were to die.  As he prayed alone in that hospital room, a white dove flew down. It lit upon his windowsill and walked back and forth very calmly for 15 minutes.  He had the video to show me.  Suffering often comes as an opportunity to Glorify God.  Amid the suffering, miraculously, joy fills our heart.  Our hope is not in this world but in the one to come.

Glorify God in Suffering

David’s greatest display of strength, honor, and obedience did Glorify God in the midst of his greatest suffering.  And yet, later his disobedience led to a sadness and sorrow unparalleled to anything he had suffered before.  Although in the darkest hours of trials when obedient, running for his life—he had joy in the Lord.  How amazing is that? His sadness only came from the consequences of his disobedience instead. Therefore, let us look at the psalms he wrote describing these emotions.  Then let us contrast and compare that to the beginning of Solomon’s reign.  Furthermore, let us see how all this points us to Jesus Christ.  In all this help us to Glory God in all that we do. Oh that we might see His hand of grace even in our suffering. 

Psalm 62 (NASB)

My soul waits in silence for God alone;
From Him comes my salvation.
² He alone is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I will not be greatly shaken.

³ How long will you attack a man,
That you may murder him, all of you,
Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
⁴ They have planned only to thrust him down from his high position;
They delight in falsehood;
They bless with their mouth,
But inwardly they curse. Selah

⁵ My soul, wait in silence for God alone,
For my hope is from Him.
⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation,
My refuge; I will not be shaken.
⁷ My salvation and my glory rest on God;
The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.
⁸ Trust in Him at all times, you people;
Pour out your hearts before Him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah

⁹ People of low standing are only breath, and people of rank are a lie;
In the balances they go up.
Together they are lighter than breath.
¹⁰ Do not trust in oppression,
And do not vainly rely on robbery;
If wealth increases, do not set your heart on it.

¹¹ God has spoken once;
Twice I have heard this:
That power belongs to God;
¹² And faithfulness is Yours, Lord,
For You reward a person according to his work.

A Portrait of Christ in Sorrow to Glorify God

As David ran for his life from Saul, he wrote songs of praise that were the portrait of Christ.  He did not fully know this, or did he,  in a sense.  Out of his suffering David wrote songs to Glorify God that foretold of the Messiah who would come and pay the price for all our sins through His own suffering.  No suffering we endure will ever compare to His for He bore all the wrath of God which we justly deserve in addition to all that He suffered at the hands of the ones He came to save. 

I will bless the Lord who has advised me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.
⁸ I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.
¹⁰ For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.
¹¹ You will make known to me the way of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16 (NASB).

Jesus, the True King Will Come To Reign—Glorify God on High

The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at My right hand
Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
² The Lord will stretch out Your strong scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”
³ Your people will volunteer freely on the day of Your power;
In holy splendor, from the womb of the dawn,
Your youth are to You as the dew.

⁴ The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.”
⁵ The Lord is at Your right hand;
He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.
⁶ He will judge among the nations, Psalm 110

Then out of anguish David wrote:

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Psalm 22:1

These are the very words that Christ cried out from the cross when God the Father and the Holy Spirit turned their backs, leaving Jesus for the only time in all of eternity to feel the awful separation from them.  After all, that is the cost of our sin, separation from our only true source of joy, our creator.
He commended His spirit into the hands of His Father, dying the death that I deserved.  An agony greater than we could ever imagine.  Yet, He did this for you and for me.  What suffering then is too great for us to bear for the good of the kingdom or for He who died for me?

⁷ All who see me deride me;
They sneer, they shake their heads, saying,
⁸ “Turn him over to the Lord; let Him save him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.” Psalm 22 (NASB)

Do these not reflect the very words thrown against Jesus by the crowds? How little did the crowd realize that is precisely what would occur as God would raise Jesus from the dead.  They believed that it had to be right then or of no meaning.  Only the centurion who saw all the events realized Jesus was who He claimed to be.

“Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, certainly this was a righteous man. Luke 23:47 (KJV)

Further Depiction of the Cross to Come

all my bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within me.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a piece of pottery,
And my tongue clings to my jaws;
And You lay me in the dust of death.
¹⁶ For dogs have surrounded me;
A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
¹⁸ They divide my garments among them,
And they cast lots for my clothing.  Psalm 22 (NASB)

In the agonizing cries of David here, he describes tortures that do occur on the cross.  However, the cross was not yet a means of torture or execution.  Still, David is inspired to write these while describing his suffering as though he felt some of what Jesus would feel one day.  Foretelling the events so vividly, despite himself never experiencing exactly that.  His hands had not been literally pierced, nor his bones pulled out of joint.  Still, this is the marvel of how God shows Himself repeatedly throughout scripture, pointing us to Jesus Christ our Savior.  

So, What About Disobedience? How Can We Glorify God after we fail?

For David we know that his sadness did not come during the years of his greatest trials.  Rather, they came as consequence to his own disobedience to God’s command.  Yes, he was forgiven by God when he pleaded for forgiveness with a broken and contrite heart.  His salvation was secure as God had promised.  It is God who by grace holds steadfast to His promises in spite of us at times. Yet, He must condemn sin and disobedience even in His chosen.  My greatest sorrows come when I watch the consequences of my own sins play out their course in life.  So, it was for David. 

As we looked at before, there are Gods unwavering promises and then there are the conditional promises.  So, now as we turn to Solomon in our studies, let us see how this plays out as well.

God’s Unconditional Promises Concerning Solomon

¹² “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. ¹⁵ But My mercy shall not depart from him,  2 Samuel 7: (KJV)

Then God chose Solomon to be King.  Shortly after, God, in a dream, asked Solomon what he would ask of Him.  Solomon asked for wisdom to judge the people justly.  Then God granted this and more unconditionally as a covenant promise. 

God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, ¹² behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. ¹³ And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.  I Kings 3 (NASB)

Then came the conditional promise from God to Solomon.

¹⁴ So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthenyour days.”  I Kings 3 (NASB)

As we study Solomon in the coming days, consider this.  Solomon only lived to 59 or 60 years of age before he died. 

What does all this mean for us?

Even in the midst of life’s suffering, our joy is founded in Jesus.  This is particularly true if our suffering is a direct result of our following Him.  We most glorify God when we most rejoice in who He is whether amid a barrage of trials and suffering or in a bright and glorious moment of grace.  If our trial is a result of disobedience, He is faithful and just in forgiving us as we confess our sin to Him.  Therefore, if you cannot find that abiding steadfast joy to undergird you; then, ask Him to show you why.   He will.  So, what are we to do?

He has told you, mortal one, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God? 

But as for me, I will be on the watch for the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
⁸ Do not rejoice over me, enemy of mine.
Though I fall I will rise;
Though I live in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.

⁹ I will endure the rage of the Lord
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.
He will bring me out to the light,
And I will look at His righteousness! Micah 6:8, 7:7-9

DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD? He is our only Hope in Life and Death! Our Joy is found in Him.

Therefore if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you today. Go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.

For Prayer or Comments

If you have a prayer request feel free to email me by clicking here

Furthermore, if you would like to share your story or thoughts, you can comment here

Previously

Transforming life with 14 Powerful Psalms of Praise, Promise, Provision, Plus More