God uses Sufferings, tribulations, and great pressures, to develop and display the Christ follower’s faith as genuine. And matures their perseverance, proven character, hope. And so they “exult,”- glory, boast in confident joy because of what they “know” God is doing as revealed in His Word!
How we THINK will determine our response. We all THINK, but we do not all THINK Biblically all the time and so we have to grow in our understanding of God, His will, and ways, and this we do according to His Word and need to be continually Renewing our minds in the Word. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”-{Romans 12:2}
If we do not align our THINKING with God’s Word we will come up with wrong conclusions about God and confusion will abound, faith will be in tatters.
It does not mean if we THINK ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE we will be spared emotional pain, and that somehow we need to fake it in front of others that everything is wonderful when in fact our hearts may be suffering painfully so. But what it does mean as I SUBMIT myself to God, knowing that He is SOVEREIGN– in complete control of my life and is SHAPING my Character conforming me to the image of Christ, I can THINK Correctly “KNOWING” from His Word some of what He is definitely doing and will achieve by the work of the SPIRIT OF GOD in me as I cooperate with Him as revealed in SCRIPTURE.
THINKING CORRECTLY About God, that He is in Control and He has an end in view and that in part is that we are not ignorant but that we are “fully aware,” that GOD IS SOVEREIGN– “PRODUCING” something specific, namely about what God is doing. We “know” from Romans 5 :3-4 He is using the sufferings to SHAPE OUR CHARACTER. So remember in our Sufferings…
SEE Troubles as They Are.
SUBMIT to Him
God is SOVEREIGN.
God is SHAPING my Character.
That is why we YOU can confidently say…
God is working my troubles for me and not against me!
God bless,
Aidan.