The Answer

I went to church on Saturday and had an unexpected conversation. A man who I had seen the week before had come again. He was easily recognizable. He had a foreign accent and if you met him, you'd instantly know where he was from. Very obviously, he was disabled, but he was able to get around.

Talking to this man, I heard his gentle voice describe how he knew Jesus as his Savior, and that an accident and a doctor's mistakes gave him his handicaps.  The accident had actually killed him, and he had seen the gates of Heaven, but Jesus told him that he needed to come back to Earth.

"There must be some reason why I'm still here," he explained.  "It was so beautiful in Heaven, and I know there was no sorrow there, and life is so difficult now."

The doctor who tried to fix him made mistakes and left him crippled.  His father was his physical therapist, pushing him beyond his limits to become mobile again.

And then I realized I knew the answer to his unanswered question.

"I know why you had to come back to life," I replied.  "You see it's not enough that you just make it to heaven.  God wants us to enjoy Heaven to our fullest potential."  I had a hard time keeping back the tears.  "The Bible says that where our heart is, there our treasure is too.  Every bit of suffering we face here as Christians builds our treasure in Heaven."

"No one has ever explained it to me like that," he said. 

[Our fathers] disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.  (Heb 12:10-13 NIV)

Isn't that amazing!?  That's not the only place in scripture that tells us how this works:

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.... And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Rom 8:23, 28 NIV)

The answer is right there, but it's hard to realize it when you're in the midst of suffering.  You can't seem to understand why you are in the situation you're in, and it feels as if it will last forever and that you can't get out of it, that you're powerless to work through the situation.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2Co 12:9-10 NIV)

Remember in Luke when Jesus quoted Isaiah in the synagogue (Luke 4:16-21)?  He read this:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. (Isa 61:1-3 NIV)

The sorrow and hardship we face here on Earth is temporary.  It may be a difficult road, but our reward will be beyond what we can imagine.  I'm not exaggerating!  It's easy to say that it's beyond what we imagine, but what God wants to give us in His Kingdom is too wonderful for words.  That's why Paul wrote this:

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:6-7 NIV)

Could you imagine being a billionaire?  God's riches in Heaven for us who have accepted Jesus will be greater than that if we remain faithful to Him in adversity.

Let's pray that we would be able to endure hardship joyfully, whatever it may be, that we would be worthy of the great wealth God wants to bestow on us.  Myself, I have a difficult time with that joyfully part, but with prayer and faith, God will give us that joy and faithfulness.