Session 30

Your pain is not in vain

From Genesis: A 7-Week Devotional

Fictional characters who endure hardship and die to save somebody else are often called Christ figures. As Christians, if someone wrote a novel about our lives, would we look like Christ figures? Would we have suffered so others would benefit? 

Joseph did. Joseph was his father’s favorite son. He even received an ornamented robe to show it. In their hate and jealousy, Joseph’s brothers violently stripped him of his robe and sold him into slavery. Joseph went from a place of honor to the lowest level of Egyptian society. But later in Genesis, we see God use this suffering to save Joseph’s family.

God used suffering to save Joseph's family.

In the same way, God deeply loved His Son, Jesus, and sent Him to save a world that hated Him. Jesus was stripped from His place of honor with God and died a horrific death on the cross. Through His suffering, Jesus paid for our sin and rescued us from God’s wrath.

Jesus calls us to follow the pattern of His life and embrace suffering the way Joseph did. Instead of letting circumstances cause you to lose hope, remember that suffering makes us more like Jesus. If you will allow Him, God will use your dark times to achieve a purpose that is greater than you could imagine.

Reflect:

• Are you going through a difficult circumstance in your life that is causing you to lose hope? 
• What is one way your suffering might make you more like Jesus? 
• What is one way you can take your suffering to God, and trust Him to use it for good?