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We’re all under the curse of manifold suffering. From birth to death, the painful effect of the fall is ever-present. Even redemption through Christ does not immune us from personal problems. This reality is analogous to the omnipresence of the sun’s heat. Though retreating to an air-conditioned room can be a respite from a hot summer day, that is not a solution that will ultimately protect us from what the sun can do to us.
Summer heat and suffering are similar in that you can get a temporary break from either one, but you’ll never be free from the diurnal rising of heat or recurring suffering. Just as heat is part of God’s plan (Genesis 1:3), so is suffering (1 Peter 2:21), whose design is to mature us into Christlikeness, which is the redemptive purpose of pain, a blessing if we see it that way and act accordingly.
You are aware of how heat brings life to the plant kingdom. Are you aware of how the Lord permits personal suffering to mature you? (Cf. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, 4:7, 12:7-10) Our kind and generous heavenly Father will permit—from time to time—unwelcome heat into our lives to protect us from ourselves. Yes, suffering has a self-protective element to it. Let me explain.
The intent of suffering is to generate humility that creates a unique dependency on the Lord. We begin to recognize our inability to fix our problems, which is the humble heart’s cue to see someone more able than us. Pain pushes us into the presence of the perfect One who can perform more powerfully than us.
The wise person realizes that their first impulse when suffering knocks is to let God answer the door. Of course, fallenness is always crouching at that door, which instinctively tempts us not to turn to God when trouble comes. In those moments, it’s vital to recognize that the problem is not so much about the heat as it is about what the heat reveals about us.
Rather than submitting to the soft heart that fosters humility, the heat in our lives can have another effect, a hardening one. Thus, the rule-of-thumb is that “heat reveals,” so when trouble comes, you want to first diagnose what your problems reveal about you before focusing on the problem itself.
There have been a few times in my life where I yielded to cursing the sun, figuratively speaking, when the heat came. By responding in those moments as I did, it’s like a man standing on a mountain, cursing the literal sun because the heat was bearing down on his head. Do you recognize any foolishness in that kind of behavior? My initial impulse was not to see it as God’s active kindness in my life.
Flailing away at the sun will not bring satisfying results to your or your relationships; it will only intensify the problems and probably adversely affect all those in the vicinity of the sun curser. The sun curser can no more change the sun than the angry person creates joy and peace by his sinful response to his circumstances.
Perhaps discerning the difference between the sun curser and the humble heart will help. As you view this list, check the descriptions that best fit you. This brief exercise could be a time to express gratitude to God for His empowering favor on you or an opportunity to work with Him to learn what you need, so you’re not that sun curser. Carefully assess.
When suffering comes:
A vital question is why do people respond differently to their situations. Why does one person curse the sun and the other perceives the Lord’s restorative work through the heat stressors of life? (Cf. Genesis 50:20) Perhaps I can illustrate my answer this way. If you submerge a sponge in a pitcher of water and take it out and squeeze it, water will come out of the sponge. Why? There was water in the sponge. Rocket science, aye?
When the Lord brings a negative situation in your life, take note as to what comes out of your mouth (Luke 6:43-45). What comes out will give you an accurate assessment of the condition of your heart. There is hardly a better diagnostic you can take than to assess yourself when you do not get your way. Those moments do not permit you to work from a prearranged script. They come instantaneously, and your instinct is to respond, and a quick response to heat reveals your most authentic self—for good or evil.
Is your pattern to curse the sun when things become difficult, or is your pattern to perceive the Lord working in your life when things become difficult? Your normal responses to life’s challenges reveal the quality of your relationship with the Lord (and with others), and sovereign God loves you so much that He will not refrain from bringing heat into your life to help you become more like His Son.
One Final Pro Tip: There is a good chance that even the problematic people in your life are instruments of righteousness in the Lord’s hands to shape you into a vessel that is competent for use in His world.
You have now completed this book, but I appeal not to set it aside. (I have listed the chapters for you below.) Throughout this book, I have asked you many questions. If you have taken the time to reflect upon them, perhaps do some writing assignments, and even talk to God and others about your responses, you have already experienced changes. What if you go back through it? Let this book be a workbook that you use until your cooperative work with the Lord and a close friend is so evident that people notice the changes. There are several ways to do this.
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Rick launched this training network in 2008 to provide life-changing resources that equip Christians to help others. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.
In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology, and in 1991 he received a BS in Education. In 1993 he was ordained into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, CA. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).