我写过九本小说。如果你能采访我书中的角色，你问他们说：“你会想要少受一点苦吗？”我肯定他们会回答：“是的！”
我也很同情我的这些角色。可是身为作者，我也知道苦难是他们成长的关键，而且对于救赎的故事来说，他们所受的苦最后都会是值得的。
神将我们每一位都写进了他的故事。我们都置身于比自己个体更宏伟的叙事。神呼召我们，信靠他和他一起编写那故事。这样，在那永不完结的结局当中，我们在他精妙交织的情节线面前目瞪口呆，俯伏敬拜。
痛苦毫无意义？
不过，就像我所虚构的角色对我的策略一无所知一样，我们也看不到自己生活的片段与神整全的计划有甚关联。癌症，残疾，意外和其他损失和悲苦似乎都是毫无意义的。然而，就因为我们看不出痛苦的意义，并不代表那是没意义的。
琼妮·厄尔克森·塔达 (Joni Eareckson Tada) 在庆祝自己坐上轮椅五周年。说“庆祝”好像不对？对于17岁的琼妮来说，那无疑是一个她渴望结束自己生命的绝望时刻。然而，回头看去，我们看到那让她在品格上急速成长，而且神也借着她感动了无数的生命——包括我自己家人。圣经教导我们说，在至高神的慈爱双手中，我们所受的苦没有一样是毫无意义的，不管在当下那看起来如何。
有多少次神在那些发生时看起来毫无意义的事件中都有他的美好旨意呢？
万事都要为我们的永恒效力
罗马书 8:28是圣经中最吸引人的其中一处经文：“我们晓得万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处，就是按他旨意被召的人。”经文表明在这个叹息不止的世界里，神最关注的是让他的儿女变得有基督的样式。他也在我们生命艰难的处境中动工，培养我们内在的生命越来越有基督的形象。
在旧约中的 罗马书 8:28，约瑟对他的兄弟们（也就是卖他为奴的那些人）说：“从前你们的意思是要害我，但神的意思原是好的，要保全许多人的性命，成就今日的光景” （创世记 50:20）。
“神的意思原是好的”意味着，神并非只是在糟糕的处境中尽力而为。而是说，神完全知道约瑟的兄弟会做什么，并不加干涉地允许他们犯罪。神的意思，是要让这个糟糕的情况成就好事。他如此行，是照着他从亘古以前就制定的计划。神的儿女“原是那位随己意行做万事的，照着他旨意所预定的”（以弗所书 1:11）。
神在约瑟生命中所做的，他不可能不也做在自己其他的儿女身上。事实上， 罗马书 8:28 和 以弗所书 1:11 坚决表明，他对我们做的也是同样的事。
你是否相信罗马书 8:28的应许？找出你身上发生过的最糟糕的事，然后问问自己，你是否相信神会用这些事情来使你得益处。圣经断言他会的。
我们信靠的恩赐
我们若愚昧地以为，我们的父神若不将他无限的智慧完全明白的显明出来就不值得我们相信，那我们就将自己置身不可能的处境——不是因为他有所局限，而是我们的有限（见以赛亚书 55:8–9）。
有时，就像约瑟最后的经历一样，神让我们得以瞥见他行事的理由。前一阵子，我有位朋友经历了一次严重的事故和痛苦的康复。可是那却拯救了他的性命。他在体检的时候发现了一个其他需要立即处理的情况。
对他来说，为什么发生那次事故的原因就变得清楚。但很多时候，我们并不知道原因。不过如果我们很多都不知道，我们为何要认为自己对原因一无所知就表示背后没有原因的？唯有神有权决定什么是无意义，还是有意义。（难道耶稣痛苦的死去在当时不也显得既多余又毫无意义吗？）
永恒喜乐的开始
如果在约瑟面对试炼时有得选，我相信他一定会离开神故事的舞台。在约伯的故事里——他死了十位孩子，自己的身体也长满了疮，就像是被神遗弃一般——你可以问问他想不想退出。我知道他会怎么回答，因为在约伯记 3:11里，他说：“我为何不出母胎而死？”
不过现在一切都过去了。在即将来临的新天新地，若你与约伯，约瑟和耶稣在盛大的筵席上同坐，问问他们：“那些真的值得吗？”
约伯会说，“绝对值得”。约瑟也会点头表示同意。耶稣会怎么回应，更是不用多想。
有一天，我们也将用永恒的眼光，在更大的背景里去看待神深刻的怜悯，其中有些我们从未理解，而有的我们还曾怨恨。我们会纳闷，为什么我们祷告要更像耶稣，但后来却又求神挪去他针对那些祷告所差派来的回应。
“所以，我们不丧胆……我们这至暂至轻的苦楚，要为我们成就极重无比永远的荣耀。原来我们不是顾念所见的，乃是顾念所不见的，因为所见的是暂时的，所不见的是永远的”(哥林多后书 4:16–18）。
信心就是今天相信，待日后回顾时，我们会发现这一切一直都是真实的。
让我们不要等到死后五分钟才相信，神什么都有一个目的。让我们此时此地就学会，定睛在我们慈爱，至高和至始至终都有美意要成就的救赎主身上。
Trusting God When the Pain Seems Pointless
I’ve written nine novels. Suppose you could interview characters from my books. If you asked them, “Would you like to suffer less?” I’m sure they’d answer, “Yes!”
I empathize with my characters. But as the author, I know that in the end all their suffering will be worth it, since it’s critical to their growth, and to the redemptive story.
God has written each of us into His story. We are part of something far greater than ourselves. God calls upon us to trust Him to weave that story together, so that, in the end that will never end, we will worship Him, slack-jawed at the sheer genius of His interwoven plot lines.
Pointless Pain?
But like my fictional characters, who are clueless to my strategies, we lack the perspective to see how parts of our lives fit into God’s overall plan. Cancer, disabilities, accidents, and other losses and sorrows appear devastatingly pointless. However, just because we don’t see any point in suffering doesn’t prove there is no point.
Joni Eareckson Tada is celebrating her fiftieth year in a wheelchair. Does celebrating seem the wrong word? It certainly would have to Joni as a 17-year-old desperately wanting to end her life. Yet looking back, we see her exponential character growth and the countless lives — my family’s included — God has touched through Joni. Scripture teaches us that in our sovereign God’s loving hands, no suffering we face is ever purposeless, no matter how it seems at the moment.
How many times does God have a purpose in events that seem senseless when they happen?
All Things for Our Eternal Good
Romans 8:28 is one of the most arresting statements in Scripture: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” The context shows that in a groaning, heaving world, God’s concern is conforming His children to Christ’s image. And He works through the challenging circumstances of our lives to develop our Christlikeness.
In the Romans 8:28 of the Old Testament, Joseph said to his brothers (who’d sold him into slavery), “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive” (Genesis 50:20).
“God meant it for good” indicates God didn’t merely make the best of a bad situation; rather, fully aware of what Joseph’s brothers would do, and freely permitting their sin, God intended that the bad situation be used for good. He did so in accordance with His plan from eternity past. God’s children have “been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).
Nothing about God’s work in Joseph’s life suggests He works any differently in the lives of His other children. In fact, Romans 8:28 and Ephesians 1:11 are emphatic that He works the same way with us.
Do you believe the promise of Romans 8:28? Identify the worst things that have happened to you, and then ask yourself if you trust God to use those things for your good. The Bible asserts that He will.
The Gift of Our Trust
If we foolishly assume that our Father has no right to our trust unless He makes His infinite wisdom completely understandable, we create an impossible situation — not because of His limitations, because of ours (see Isaiah 55:8–9).
Occasionally, like Joseph eventually experienced, God gives us glimpses of His rationale. Some time ago, a friend of mine endured a serious accident and a painful recovery. But it saved his life. Medical tests revealed an unrelated condition that needed immediate attention.
In that case, a compelling reason for the accident became clear. In other cases, we don’t know the reasons. But given all that we don’t know, why do we assume our ignorance of the reasons means there are no reasons? Only God is in the position to determine what is and isn’t pointless. (Didn’t the excruciating death of Jesus appear both gratuitous and pointless at the time?)
A Head Start on Eternal Joy
Given the option while facing his trials, I’m confident Joseph would have walked off the stage of God’s story. In the middle of Job’s story — with ten children dead, his body covered in boils, apparently abandoned by God — ask him if he wants out. I know his answer because in Job 3:11 he said, “Why did I not perish at birth?”
But that’s all over now. On the coming New Earth, sit by Job and Joseph and Jesus at a lavish banquet. Ask them, “Was it really worth it?”
“Absolutely,” Job says. Joseph nods emphatically. No need to wonder how Jesus will respond.
One day, we too will see in their larger context, with an eternal perspective, God’s severe mercies, some of which we never understood, and others we resented. We’ll wonder why we prayed to be more like Jesus but then begged God to remove what He sent to answer those prayers.
“Therefore we do not give up. . . . For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, CSB).
Faith is believing today what one day, in retrospect, we will see to have been true all along.
Let’s not wait until five minutes after we die to trust that God always has a point. Let’s learn to do it here and now, eyes locked on our gracious, sovereign, and ever-purposeful Redeemer.
Photo: Unsplash
