The nature of difficult circumstances (suffering)...

...is to break us, show us who we are, sort through the pieces, discard the undesirable, and re-build us in the image of our Maker. The whole process is, in the most simplistic terms possible, NOT fun. Ever. And if anyone says they’re having fun, they’re lying. I’m not saying joy is impossible (for we are actually told to be joyful in the midst of trials in Ephesians), but happiness (which is dependent on positive circumstances) is extremely rare and generally a trait only possessed by the extremely masochistic. I was reading in a favorite book of mine last night, Streams in the Desert, and came across this passage by Ruskin that applies music into the subject of trials extremely well.
“There is no music in a rest, but there is the making of music in it. In our whole life-melody the music is broken off here and there by “rests,” and we foolishly think we have come to the end of the tune. God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives; and we lament that our voices must be silent, and our part missing in the music which ever goes up to the ear of the Creator. How does the musician read the “rest”? See him beat the time with unvarying count, and catch up the next note true and steady, as if no breaking place had come between.
Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune, and not be dismayed at the “rests.” They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy the melody, not to change the keynote. If we look up, God himself will beat the time for us. With the eye on Him, we shall strike the next note full and clear. If we sadly say to ourselves, “There is no music in a ‘rest,’” let us not forget “there is the making of music in it.” The making of music is often a slow and painful process in this life. How patiently God works to teach us! How long He waits for us to learn the lesson!”
In Ephesians, Paul writes about some of his experiences and how, even though he’s going through some intense trials, he has joy. At one point, while jailed, he and a few other guys sang praises to God! Crazy as it sounds, it’s the most incredible thing to be compelled to do while under stress. When it happened to me, it took me utterly by surprise, but I’ve never felt such absolute joy and peace. When I encountered situations that ordinarily would have me frustrated, angry, and biting my tongue to hold back curses, I found that what bubbled out of my heart instead were constant songs of praise to God!
It’s so amazing to know that, even when we take out our frustration on God and may even feel betrayed by Him, He is still in constant control. It’s comforting that He never changes- His word stands and His standards never fluctuate. Steadiness. Calm in the midst of the storms of life.
Odd as it may seem to some, Daniel 3:25 is my life verse.
“He said, ‘Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods (NIV).’”
It actually came from the book I mentioned above, and, ironically enough, the accompanying text on that particular devotional day really didn’t mean much to me. In fact, I had a hard time finding it just now because the page had the anomaly of not being all marked up.
I love the way this verse says so clearly, so applicably that when life throws you out of the frying pan and into the fire, you’re never there alone. Jesus is with you, the completely qualified, sympathetic High Priest who has gone through everything.
I can totally empathize when David says “Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?” in Psalm 10:1. It’s crazy how quickly forget all that God does for us and how easily we think that if we’re walking with the Lord, everything will be roses. It’s SO not the case, because when we’re walking with the Lord is when Satan is TICKED and throws everything he’s got at us to make us fall.
“You’re not there, way out there, wandering in Your great Unknown. You are here, ever near. In my heart You found a home. You are living, You are breathing, I can feel Your presence in me.”- Jaci Velasquez
Even when we DON’T feel His presence, though, He is here with us. Always.
“Let us not rely on feeling, but on faith in His unswerving fidelty; and though we see Him not, let us talk to Him. Directly we begin to speak to Jesus, as being literally present, though His presence is veiled, there comes an answering voice which shows that He is in the shadow, keeping watch upon His own. Your Father is as near when you journey through the dark tunnel as when under the open heaven!”- Daily Devotional Commentary
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” -Romans 8:28
George Mueller puts it really succinctly- “In one thousand trials it is not five hundred of them that work for the believer’s good, but nine hundred and ninety-nine of them, and one beside.”
“We must die before we are turned into gentleness, and crucifixion involves suffering; it is a real breaking and crushing of self, which wrings the heart and conquers the mind.”-G.D.W.
“The Lord hath sent strength for thee.”- Psalm 68:28

I know I’m barely writing anything that hasn’t been said by someone else, but I find that, most times, the wisdom of the ages speaks for itself.

“Should Sorrow lay her hand upon thy shoulder,
And walk with thee in silence on life’s way,
While Joy, thy bright companion once, grown colder,
Becomes to thee more distant day by day?
Shrink not from the companionship of Sorrow,
She is the messenger of God to thee;
And thou wilt thank Him in His great tomorrow--
For what thou knowest not now, thou then shalt see;
She is God’s angel, clad in weeds of night,
With ‘whom we walk by faith and not by sight.’”


So....

“Let us run with perseverance (patience)”- Hebrews 12:1- George Matheson commented that “It is the power to work under a stroke; to have a great weight at your heart and still to run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily task. It is a Christlike thing!”

“When all our hopes are gone,
‘Tis well our hands must keep toiling on
For others’ sake:
For strength to bear is found in duty done;
And he is best indeed who learns to make
The joy of others cure his own heartache.”

Another hard thing? To wait FOR God. People so often think that God is in this eternal NOW, and He is, but the thing of it is, He works our His purposes in His time. So says Isaiah, “Blessed are all they that wait for him.” And again in Daniel, “Blessed is he that waiteth.”

Now THIS I really love...it’s such blunt truth, but wow!
“The tests of life are to make, not break us. Trouble may demolish a man’s business but build up his character. The blow at the outward man may be the greatest blessing to the inner man. If God, then, puts or permits anything hard in our lives, be sure that the real peril, the real trouble, is what we shall lose if we flinch or rebel.”- Maltbie D. Babcock

“So suffering is rough and hard to bear; but it hides beneath it discipline, education, possibilities, which no only leave us nobler, but perfect us to help others. Do not fret, or set your teeth, or wait doggedly for the suffering to pass; but get out of it all you can, both for yourself and for your service to your generation, according to the will of God”

“Every heavy load that you are called to lift hides in itself some strange secret of strength. Every point of battle to which you come, where you must draw your sword and fight the enemy, has a possible victory which will prove a rich blessing to your life. Not to do it, at whatever cost, is to miss the blessing.” -J.R. Miller

AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF!!!!

“His soul entered into iron.” -Psalm 105:18 (in English, “Iron entered his soul”)

“Do not flinch from suffering; bear it silently, patiently, resignedly; and be sure that it is God’s way of infusing iron into your spiritual life. God wants iron saints; and since there is no way of imparting iron to the moral nature but by letting people suffer, He lets (does not inflict) them suffer.” -F.B. Meyer

To satisfy the singer in me...

“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, REJOICE!” -Philippians 4:4

some lyrics from an old negro spiritual...

“An’ when He hears yo’ sing, He bends down wid a smile on His kin’ face an’ listens mighty keerful, an’ He says, ‘Sing on, chile, I hears, an’ I’s comin’ down to deliber yo’: I’ll tote dat load fer yo’’ jest lean hawd on Me and de road will get smoother bime by.’”