The Value of Suffering
I recently had an experience that caused me a great deal of disappointment and mental suffering. Looking back now I don't think I handled it very well. I doubted my trust in God, my faith was challenged, and I was angry about it. In reality it was a small thing compared to what others suffer through, but I can see how this trial was perfectly crafted for me. I can see weaknesses now that I didn't know were there - these weaknesses have now become great strengths. This trial tried the parts of my mindset and understanding that no other trial could have. It challenged values and beliefs in a way that nothing else could have. I am now grateful that God led me to pass through it. This experience has led to some deep insights for me and a greater understanding of myself and the plan our Heavenly Father has for us. Sometimes we forget the value and purpose of suffering in this great plan.
God Sends Forth The Winds
We have been told by the Lord that, "If men come unto me I will show them their weakness, I give unto men weakness that they may be humble." If we humble ourselves and have faith in Him we are promised "...then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (Ether 12:27) I think it is safe to say that we were taught this and understood it in the premortal existence. It's funny that our earthly trials take us by surprise and we are almost offended that God would allow us to suffer. We signed up for this. We knew that to become like God we had to pass through this mortal life, gaining a body and experience that we could not have had in our abode above. Think about it, God said, "Hey kids if you want to be like me you need to go to earth and suffer and grow. It's going to be hard but you will grow and I will be with you." Then we get here and stub our toe and we are like, "God why are you letting this happen?! I've been good and I pray every day that I will be safe. You don't love me! You don't exist!"
You may chuckle at this but this is a common response pattern. I doubt any of us are brave enough for this, but we should be praying for trials to come and pleading for the strength to overcome them. Instead we pray that we will "travel home safe" and that this life will be one big giant picnic in the park. There is great value in the suffering God sends us through. We should embrace it. The trials are sent to us by God and if endured well will carry us to our destination, being changed and becoming more like God. We see this in the story of the Brother of Jared and the Jaredites. They "...set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God." And the Lord "...caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind." (Ether 6:4-5) Who sent forth the wind? In an earlier Chapter of Ether the Lord said " Ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you…For the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth." (Ether 2:24) God sends forth the difficulty and resistance in our lives. Our lives are directed by a loving Heavenly Father with carefully orchestrated trails to help us arrive at our destination. "And it came to pass that the wind never ceased to blow towards the promised land…and thus they were driven forth before the wind." (Ether 6:8) The Lord promises us "Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea." The Lord will be there for us and with us through our trials. He has prepared us to be able to withstand and benefit from the wind He is sending forth, "I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth and the floods which shall come." (Ether 2:24-25)
Value In Suffering - Growth and Proof
The path of discipleship will necessarily include trials and suffering. We are taught that if we are righteous we will be happy and we will have peace in Christ. So we are surprised when the going gets tough. "Hey I went to church today, why did my car break down?" We need to read these scriptures with the view that we are promised these things in our trials. "His promise is not to spare us the conflict but to preserve and console us in our afflictions and consecrate them for our gain." (Elder D.Todd Christofferson, Liahona March 2022) Trials are designed to test our level of faith and trust in God. Again, "If men come unto me I will show unto them their weaknesses." This scripture implies that the Lord will always see ways to help us grow in our faith and he will use these weaknesses to make us stronger and to teach us. Ironically to some degree, the stronger we get the harder and more challenging our specific trials may become. The Lord teaches us in Isaiah that we are refined and chosen "In the furnace of our affliction", not while we watch Monday Night Football. That was the plan we agreed to.
We don't know how strong we are, the strength of our faith, until the Lord tests us. The Lord needs to know that we will choose to endure and be faithful to him even in our trials. It's easy to have faith and talk the talk when times are good, but the Lord wants us to show that we will stay faithful even when we are taking a short trip through mental, spiritual or physical hell. Our faith is not faith until we have had to have faith! This life is not a test unless we are put in a spot where we have to choose to be faithful, and to have any effect the choice HAS TO BE HARD. In a World Wide Devotional, Elder Jeffery R. Holland said “Untested faith is not faith at all” and then added, “True faith is always in crisis.”
This is what makes life more than just a choice between right and wrong. If all we had to do is sit on the beach sipping Dirty Dr. Pepper and choose between right and wrong it wouldn't be much of a test. The test needs to bring us to our knees, make us quake and cry out to the Lord. Sounds bad I know but in the end it's good for us.
Like a muscle, Faith is only strengthened when it experiences resistance. When we lift weights we are literally tearing apart our muscle tissue and letting it grow back and heal stronger. Heavenly Father’s work is to do the same thing with our faith and making us better and more holy along the way. The value in suffering is the way it strengthens our physical, mental and spiritual capacity. It keeps us humble and looking toward the Savior. It helps us be more compassionate and loving toward others as they pass through similar trials. We may even be able to help them since we have already passed through the same. The way we respond to these trials is the true gauge of our faith.
We Can Choose our Response
Often our first reaction to heavenly orchestrated trials is to jump to our knees and pray for the trial to go away. Maybe if the trial is hard enough or sticks around long enough we seek a priesthood blessing. But if these petitions go unanswered we quickly become bitter or mad about it, feeling like a victim. It’s often confusing to us, I mean we go to church every Sunday so we ask “why is this happening to me?” We think, “I have been good, I am a follower of the Savior, why is He allowing this to happen?” We came to the earth to have our faith tested then we get mad when our faith is tested. We need to remember that it is happening precisely BECAUSE we have chosen the path of discipleship which passes through trials that strengthen and prove us. This doesn’t make it any easier but it can help us endure.
While we may be powerless in choosing the trials we pass through we can choose how we respond. Knowing that the Lord will not ask of us more than we can endure, and that the trial is for our benefit can give us some comfort. We don’t necessarily have to smile through the trial but we need to strive to “become as a child,” being ”submissive, meek, humble, patient…willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us].” (Mosiah 3:19)
How do we endure our trials well? I don’t think there is any easy button here but the Savior has promised that if we reach out to him he will “Bear us up” and “give us peace”. Great strength and patience comes if we remember where the “winds” come from. He has promised to be with us, especially in our trials. The prayers we pray should be less about removing the trial and more about receiving His help and having the strength to endure. We should pray for the Spirit so we can learn what He would have us learn, and become who He would have us become through the trial. In the end though, we need to have the same attitude that Daniel had when he said “...our God who we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us…But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, we will not serve thy gods.” (Daniel 3:18) What a great example of how to handle trials! We can look the trial in the face and say, “Look, Bring it on, the God I believe in will save me, but if not, I will still believe in Him, and I will endure it.”
The Lord knows there is great value in suffering. The Lord suffered for us because He loved us. We endure suffering and keep the faith because we love Him. It is the only way for us to become who we are intended to become.
