More on suffering....

“I remember one Monday when two officers were interrogating me. About midday, a
general came into the room. He signaled with his hand for them to leave. He began to curse me and hit me, slapping my face and hitting my head with his fist, finally knocking my head against the wall. I screamed—intentionally. I shouted so the other detainees in nearby rooms would hear me. What the general was doing was clearly illegal. That, of course, was why he had ordered the two officers out of the room. He wanted no witnesses at my trial. He kept on for a while, and then left without another word. The two officers came back and resumed the interrogation as if nothing had happened.

“On Thursday afternoon, the general returned. Again he motioned with his hand for the
two to leave. I braced myself for a second round of beating. But the man sat down behind the desk and said, ‘Don’t worry. This time I am calm. I have come to talk to you.’ Now the Lord has promised that when His people are questioned, the Holy Spirit within them will do the talking. I can testify to this truth. I myself was surprised as I said, ‘Mr. General, because you came to talk to me, I want first of all to apologize for what happened Monday.’ He was very surprised. ‘Let me explain what I mean,’ I said. ‘On Tuesday, I was kept here the whole day without being interrogated. I had plenty of time to think. All of a sudden it dawned on me that this is Holy Week. And sir, for a Christian, nothing is more beautiful than to suffer during the time his Savior and Lord suffered. When you beat me, you did me a great honor. I am sorry for shouting at you. I should have thanked you for the most beautiful gift you could ever have given me. Since Tuesday I have been praying for you and your family.’

“I saw the man choking. He tried hard to swallow. Then, somehow, he said, ‘Well, I shouldn’t have done it. I am sorry—let’s talk.’ We talked many days after that. Eventually he said, ‘Would you put on paper all you have said to me? I want the president of the country to read it.’ From this I learned that no one—not even a Communist—is beyond the reach of Calvary love. These are savable people, redeemable people like anyone else. They desperately needed to see Christ in me.” Josef Tson

“Should you pray for a miracle? Well, you’re free to do that, of course. My general impression is that the God who is able to do miracles-and he certainly can-is also able to keep you from getting the problem in the first place. So although miracles do happen, they’re rare by definition. A miracle has to be an unusual thing. Above all, I would say pray for the glory of God. If you think of God glorifying himself in history and you say, where in all of history has God most glorified himself? He did it at the cross of Jesus Christ, and it wasn’t by delivering Jesus from the cross, though he could have. Jesus said, ‘Don’t you think I could call down from my Father ten legions of angels for my defense?’ But he didn’t do that. And yet that’s where God is most glorified. God is in charge. When things like this come into our lives, they are not accidental. It’s not as if God somehow forgot what was going on, and something bad slipped by. God is not only the one who is in charge; God is also good. Everything he does is good. If God does something in your life, would you change it? If you’d change it, you’d make it worse. It wouldn’t be as good.” James Montgomery Boice
(Diagnosed with liver cancer and died eight weeks after sharing this with his congregation)