"...And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he was given us."
~Romans 5:2-5
I don't know how your month of November has been going, but mine has been difficult. November 1, I found out one of my favorite teachers from middle school was found dead in his apartment. I came home for the visitation and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done--stand in a room and listen to everyone talk about how he died. The following week, I found out my dad very sick, my mom hadn't seen him so ill since he had his appendicitis attack when I was in eighth grade. The day after that, Mom called and told me my grandpa was in the hospital because of his heart condition. The next week, one of my friends from high school was in the hospital with appendicitis, the day he was having surgery his dad was also admitted to the hospital for kidney stones. Through all of this, my mom has been having serious problems with her right arm. Every week, there has been something new. Some new kind of suffering.
The good news that today brings, my dad is doing quite well, my grandpa is out of the hospital, my friend is recovering, and his dad is doing much better. Mom is still healing, but she's getting there. And my teacher...well, I pray he's in heaven.
This verse has been my motto whenever medical emergencies come up. Or really, when anything bad happens, I look back to Romans 5.
Now, this month, I have failed at rejoicing in my sufferings. While these things were not directly happening to me, they had a serious effect on how I was doing with my school work. We won't get into my emotional state other than it was pretty rocky for a while.
What does it mean to rejoice in our sufferings? I don't think that the passage is saying that the scenario should go like this: "I was just diagnosed with cancer. Woohoo! Let's go celebrate!" No. In fact, that's just ridiculous. I think that we can rejoice in our sufferings by simply reminding ourselves that everything happens for a reason and that something good will come from it. If anything, we gain hope in God.
From our sufferings we gain perseverance. If you wear a back brace for over two years and then find out you need to wear a brace on you arm for tendonitis or tennis elbow a few years later, the time you spend in the arm brace isn't going to seem all that bad at all.
Perseverance builds character. How many of us have heard our dad's tell us, "it builds character!" I know I have... and I know that he was right. I would not be who I am today if it were not for my time in a back brace or any number of other things that have happened in my life.
And because we have character we also have hope. Hope in our God and His faithfulness. As the passage says, "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (v. 5)
This passage is almost like a cycle. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And we also rejoice in sufferings. Sufferings turn into perseverance. Perseverance turns into character. And character becomes hope. Hope. We rejoice in our sufferings because we have hope and we rejoice in it. Not only are you building character, you are a HopeBuilder.
When it seems like you're having a bad week, a bad month, even a bad year, remember to rejoice in the hope and the sufferings.
