137. Why do some of us experience more suffering and misfortune than others?
A. In some cases, we bring the suffering upon ourselves as a consequence of our sins.
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
James 4:1-2 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and you do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight ans quarrel.
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-15, about how David suffered for his sin.
B. In many cases, we do not know why God allows some to suffer more than others. Those reasons remain hidden in God, whose purposes are often beyond our understanding, just as those who saw Jesus suffer were not at the time aware of God's great and loving purpose behind the cross.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Read Genesis 50:15-21; Isaiah 45:9; Job 42:1-6; and Romans 9:19-23.
Therefore, we should take our complaints and sorrows to God, rejoice when we share in Christ's sufferings, pray for His help, care for those who suffer, and commend ourselves and others into His merciful hands.
Psalm 130:1-2 Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD! O LORD, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
Psalm 90:13-15 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on Your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.
1 Peter 4:12-13, 19 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. ... Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Eventual commentary
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