Friday, March 24
Don’t waste that pain!
Scripture: Hebrews 5
Hebrews 5:7–9 During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. 9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.
Observation
What a profound statement! Jesus the sinless Son of God “learned obedience through the things he suffered.” There is a familiar play on words in the Greek. “Learn” is mathein; “suffer” is pathein. “Learning comes by suffering” was a well known Greek proverb. Sometimes the proverb was used negatively of those who would only learn from their mistakes. (I don’t want to be one of those who only learns the hard way.) Here, the author of Hebrews conscripts it for a very different purpose.
Jesus, as our example and high priest, faced everything we face, yet without sin (4:15). He learned what obedience to the will of God means by embracing suffering for our sakes. “That Jesus learned by suffering, even though he was the Son of God, could shape the way they (and we) should view our current circumstances.”
What does God want to teach me through this suffering?
Application
Years ago I read a then-popular book entitled, Don’t Waste Your Sorrows, by Paul Billheimer. He advanced this idea of “learning from suffering.” We are confronted with many hardships and much pain, some of it of our own making, some of it from others, some of it from living in a broken world. We can let these experiences make us bitter or better.
Jesus our Savior is also our example, and if the Son of God learned what it means to do God’s will from suffering, then surely I must be willing to learn from my suffering as well. Don’t waste it! Embrace it.
What does God want to teach me through this suffering?
Prayer: Lord I love You. I don’t like to suffer and I’d prefer learning some other way. But if Jesus experienced it for me, I’m willing to follow. Help me to learn from suffering, whether my fault or someone or something else. I don’t want to waste that pain!
More: Deuteronomy 11-12, Proverbs 7, Matthew 24