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Malachi 3:1–3
“He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness” (Mal. 3:3).
As we saw in yesterday’s study, one of the first questions a person typically asks when suffering comes is “Where is God in this?” But a closely related question is very common as well: “Why has God allowed this to occur?” This question is directed at discovering the purpose of the suffering. It is one thing to experience suffering, but it is another thing entirely to experience pain that seems worthless. If we have to go through suffering, we want there to be some reason for it. This is why a woman can pass through the pain of childbirth and then testify that the travail was worth it and she would do it again. She knows that her suffering had a purpose—to bring forth a new life.
Our “Why?” questions rise up when, as is usually the case, the reason for our suffering is not apparent. And yet, Scripture testifies that there is always a reason, though it may remain concealed from us in the mind of God. One major reason for suffering is to refine our characters. The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks to this reason in its chapter on providence: “The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled; and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends” (V, 5). Though the framers of the confession did not have suffering in view here, the difficult providences they mention are intended by God to make His people more Christlike. And He uses suffering in the same manner. The words of the confession agree completely with Paul’s assertion in Romans 8:28 that God works in everything, even suffering, to make us more holy. But whether the purpose of our suffering is refinement of our characters or some other goal, God certainly is involved in it, and that means it is not meaningless.
It is not wrong to ask God what He is doing when we suffer, though we must realize that we may never discover the answer in this life. What we must never do is question His right to refine us by fire if He so chooses. He is our loving Father and will not wrong us.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Think back over difficult providences through which you have passed. Can you now, perhaps years later, see how those experiences were good for you? If so, praise and thank God for working in your life to refine you. If not, do not despair, but rest on the promises of Scripture that affirm that our suffering is not for nothing.
For Further Study
- Job 23:10
- Ezekiel 22:18–22
- Zechariah 13:9
- 1 Peter 1:6–7