WHY NOT? A PERSPECTIVE ON SUFFERING

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

-- 1 PETER 5:10

I Recently conducted a Bible Study for members of Iron Faith Fellowship on the subject of suffering. This was not a guidebook on how to avoid suffering. That guidebook would be The Bible. The truth is in this world you can't avoid suffering; in fact, the Bible would confirm this, but if you followed the Commandments of God and believe in t\His saving grace through Jesus Christ, you could lessen that suffering while you were on Planet Earth and definitely avoid any suffering in the afterlife.

However, while here, it might help in dealing with any suffering that comes your way if you understand the reasons why sufferings exists. Therefore, I am going to post my lessons over the next several days.

Here is the synopsis:

SYNOPSIS

Part 1            An Infinite Reference Point                        

Part 2            Because You Have Done This

Part 3            Yes that Is the Price

Part 4            Do Not Regard Lightly; Nor Be Weary

Part 5            Riddle Me This

Part 6            A Thorn in the Flesh

Part 7            It’s Not in the Hands of Al

Part 8.           Heart, Soul and Mind and Your Little Neighbor, Too

Keep in mine, this is my study, thus my interpretation and opinion of what Scripture says. You should study and confirm it for yourselves and not just take my word for anything. This is how you should approach the teachings of any man or woman, pray for guidance and enlightenment, read their references, study the text, confirm they are being true to The Word, ask questions and pray again.
I have spend a lot of days preparing this study and I think I got most of it right, but I am not an Apostle or a Prophet and make no claim of perfection for freedom from error. Again, this is from my studying. I do not consult commentaries, because I believe the Bible is sufficient for its own understanding. I do look into the history of the times it was written or to biographies of certain characters, as well as history so that I can understand the context.

We will begin with my next post with Part 1: An Infinite Reference Point.

The photo at the top was taken by me in 1981. It shows my wife holding our second child, Noelle, not long after discovering the destruction by water of the home we were just preparing to move into. I was only saved six years before this photo and it was part of a series of disasters that befell us in this period. Do not think that being Born Again protects you from the sorrows of this world. Suffering falls upon everyone, good or bad, but God will provide the strength and comfort for His people to endure. We will talk more about what happened during those years in this study.