There is yet another observation worth noting in 2 Corinthians,
chapter 1. No less than three reasons are given for suffering---each one
introduced with the term "that." Can you locate them? Take a pencil
and circle the "that" in verses 4, 9, and 11. Quietly, without a lot of
fanfare, the Holy Spirit states reasons we suffer:

1. "That we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction .

." (v. 4). God allows suffering so that we might have the capacity to
enter into others' sorrow and affliction. Isn't that true? If you have
suffered a broken leg and been confined to crutches for weeks---you
are in complete sympathy with someone else on crutches, even years after
your affliction. The same is true for the loss of a child . . .
emotional depression . . . an auto accident . . . undergoing unfair
criticism . . . financial burdens. God gives His children the capacity
to understand by bringing similar sufferings into our lives. Bruises
attract one another.

2. "That we would not trust in ourselves . . ." (v. 9). God also
allows suffering so that we might learn what it means to depend on Him, not
on our own strength and resources. Doesn't suffering do that? It forces
us to lean on Him totally, absolutely. Over and over He reminds us of the
danger of pride . . . but it frequently takes suffering to make the
lesson stick. Pride is smashed most effectively when the suffering
comes suddenly, surprisingly. The express trains of heaven are seldom
announced by a warning bell; they dash suddenly and abruptly into the
station of the soul. Perhaps that has been your experience recently.
Don't resent the affliction as an intruder---welcome it as God's
message to stop trusting in your flesh . . . and start leaning on Him.

3. "That thanks may be given . . ." (v. 11). Honestly---have you said,
"Thanks, Lord, for this test"? Have you finally stopped struggling and
expressed to Him how much you appreciate His loving sovereignty over
your life? I submit that one of the reasons our suffering is prolonged
is that we take so long saying "Thank you, Lord" with an attitude of
genuine appreciation.

How unfinished and rebellious and proud and unconcerned we would be
without suffering! Alan Redpath, the beloved evangelist and former
pastor of Moody Bible Church in Chicago, once remarked;

When God wants to do an impossible task, He takes an impossible
individual---and crushes him.

Here is another statement on suffering I heard years ago. I shall
neverforget it: Pain plants the flag of reality in the fortress of a rebel heart.

May these things encourage you the next time God heats up the furnace!