Sunday 18/11/12

Galatians 3:4 ESV

Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

An interesting question from Paul, what have we suffered for doing God's work? Are they too much to bear? Are they long, or just a while? Are they vain, or in the end produce good result?

Personally, I think while we do face many difficulties in life, they are for our own good, to correct our weaknesses, to help us learn and grow, and experience more things in life. Generally our difficulties are caused by our lack of wisdom & skills, not by God.

We do suffer some for God. People may persecute us in His name. That's because we live in the world, and it is evil. But as we suffer and pray, God gives us joy in suffering, and strengthen our faith. We love the world less, as we saw its unreasonableness, and love God more. That's good for us.

God may want us to do some things for Him, and they are difficult to us, like going from Egypt to the Promised Land. Like with the Israelites, it is a difficult journey, but it's good for us. God provides us all the way, and helps us overcome the difficulties. Eventually, it helps us build up our faith, know God more, and get better things in life. So it's not in vain.

So eventually, as the Bible says, all things will work together for our good. We only need to brave the difficulties, pray fervently, obey God's commands and do our best under God instructions.