Good times can cause people to reflect on God and His goodness. But those with hearts encased in stone will not be persuaded by good times, no matter how amazing.
Yet God can reach anyone. He can even reach the skeptic and the hard-hearted. How? Through suffering. There is no resistance God cannot break, if that were His goal. And that is NOT His goal in every case. He allows some to become more hard-hearted throughout life, like the Pharaoh who bounced back after every plague, unwilling to consent to the release of the nation of Israel. But God finally humbled even him through the death of his firstborn and the firstborn of every house in Egypt.
And God can reach every atheist you have ever met; sometimes that happens through suffering. Pray for that person and God may change everything.
But is using suffering cruel? Not as cruel as what Jesus went through to save the skeptic. And not as cruel as eternity in hell. Remember, our suffering—even if it lasts a lifetime—is infinitely short compared to eternity in paradise.
In Psalm 83, the Psalmist prays God will deal with Israel’s cruel enemies. He asks God to do to them what He did to Midian, Sisera, and Jabin, “when they were destroyed at Endor and became manure for the ground” v.10.
“Make them like tumbleweed, my God, like straw before the wind. As fire burns a forest, … pursue them … terrify them with Your storm. Cover their faces with shame… Let them be … terrified forever …. May they know that You alone … are the Most High over all the earth” 13-18.
God’s enemies will be made like manure for the ground, scattered like tumbleweed or straw in the wind, burned up like a forest on fire, terrified by storms, covered in shame—and then they will know “that You alone… are the Most High over all the earth.”
God, remind us that suffering points people to Jesus. Teach us how to pray, but also how to help.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 