There's a verse from the Book of Job that I've been meditating on for a few days now, and it's one I honestly don't ever remember reading before. Here it is in a few different translations, which always helps me to better understand a verse:
"But those who learn from their suffering, God delivers from their suffering" (MSG).
"But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction" (Job 36:15, NIV)
"But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity" (NLT).
"God rescues the afflicted by their affliction; He instructs them by their torment" (HCSB).
As I said in my last post, Job was convinced that his suffering was a sign of God's arbitrariness toward him. But, as one commentator put it, "Rather than being a sign of God's unconcern as Job had reasoned (9:15-16), affliction is a mark of God's mercy, keeping one from the deadly path of ignorance" (HCSB Study Bible).
Imagine that — affliction as a sign of God's mercy! It sounds so paradoxical, but David wrote in the Book of Psalms, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word" (119:67). Affliction does keep us on right paths.
The interesting part to me about the NIV translation of Job 36:15 is that God first delivers us in our suffering — "But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering" — before He delivers us out of it. Deliverance, then, is not only a particular outcome to a difficult situation; it's also God developing in us stronger faith, greater trust, and faithful waiting. It's us learning how to lean on Him as Comforter, Provider, and Friend ... all things that must be learned in our suffering before God delivers us out of our suffering. Here's how John Gill puts it:
“The righteous ... who are humbled, brought low, and made contrite, through the afflicting hand of God: these, though the Lord does sooner or later deliver ‘out’ of their afflictions, yet that is not intended here, but a deliverance ‘in’ them; which is done by supporting them under them, by supplying them with his grace to bear them patiently, by granting them his gracious presence for their comfort in them, by stilling the enemy and the avenger, keeping Satan from disturbing them, and freeing them from doubts and fears and unbelief, and by drawing their hearts and affections off of the world, and the things of it, to himself.”
In what ways do you see God delivering you in your suffering? Is He increasing your faith, your hope, your joy? Is He teaching you endurance? Is He growing your maturity? Is He keeping you in perfect peace? Is He softening your heart toward others who are suffering? Is He keeping you desperate for Him?
These things may not feel like deliverance, but they are — they are deliverance from fear, worry, and the need to control everything around you. They're deliverance from storing your treasure in the rusting things of this world. They're deliverance from idolatry, apathy, and selfish ambition. And this type of deliverance is the kind that really matters. Deliverance in suffering has eternal benefits, whereas deliverance out of suffering is only temporary — a change in circumstances that will pass away when we enter eternity.
Look for ways God is delivering you in your present trial that have nothing to do with a change in your circumstances. As Tim Keller says, "God often uses our troubles to rescue us from our own flaws and make us great."
How is God rescuing you?
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