Someone once observed that ‘Suffering colours our outlook.’ To which the reply came, ‘Yes, but it up to us to choose the colour!’

Suffering is common to all in a fallen world, and it can come through various misfortunes, as well as being the consequence of our own wrong choices. But there are also many dimensions of suffering that are brought about, whether intentionally or not, through the actions of others. Persecution is especially terrible, because it is inflicted upon people entirely by deliberate strategy.

For many, suffering darkens their outlook, and shrinks their soul. But that is not how the Lord would have us respond to it.

One of the devil’s pleasures is to cause us to become entangled in resentment and grudges. It is only too easy to allow our hearts to become saturated with bitterness and hate. If he can entice us toward nurturing revenge and even vindictiveness in our hearts, then he is very likely to succeed in his bit to make us lay aside or even put down altogether the weapons of all prayer. Paul is very clear on this point. He writes,

Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven — if there was anything to forgive — I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are aware of his schemes. (2 Cor. 2:10-11)

To hold back our forgiveness, he says, is to give satan the means to outwit us, and bind us up in his entwining cords. It’s worth noting, too, that when we willingly let go of our resentments and grudges, we will also be kept from the great mistake of blaming God for things that demons and evil people are actually responsible for.

It’s often in very nitty-gritty ways that we are tested, as people do things that irritate and annoy us even to the point of becoming what we might think of as a ‘thorn in the flesh.’ This doesn’t half test our patience and our desire to be more like Jesus! If we refuse to forgive them (or more likely simply forget to do so)! it is as though we stand in the icy cold of ‘suffer-rain.’ The floodwaters rise in our hearts and we become soaked through with the bitterness of unforgiveness. But if we will clear out the sump, so to speak, satan will find it harder to outwit us, and it makes it mjuch easier for the Lord to rain down His righteousness, and for the Earth to open wide to allow salvation to spring up and righteousness flourish alongside it. (Is. 45:8) Oh yes!

May we release every person who has in any way hurt us from the responsibility for our own pain and anger. It might be someone close to us – as it so often is for those who are persecuted for their faith. It might also be someone further removed – a leader or politician who has enacted policies that balk our progress or even our very livelihood – or – which is often harder still – who has hurt someone dear to us.

It might be that we actually need to forgive ourselves.

Is the Lord reminding you of anyone you have yet to forgive, or who you need to forgive more?

This is the way of suffer-reign and glory. I have heard so many really amazing stories of people who have suffered immense loss at other people’s hands, but who have succeeded in forgiving them. You will have heard of Gordon Wilson, who refused to seek revenge for the loss of his daughter in an IRA bombing. He knew that angry words would neither restore his daughter nor promote the cause of peace in Northern Ireland, and his attitude of grace convinced Protestant loyalists not to retaliate in the face of that particular outrage. Sometimes people criticise those who forgive ‘too quickly’ after a great offence, but Gordon has never gone back on his forgiveness even though he often found it challenging to remain true to it.

Have you come across the story of Immaculée Ilibagiza? She was a young woman who narrowly survived the Rwanda genocide by remaining hidden in a tiny bathroom with several others for an astonishing 91 days, while a massacre was raging around them which left a million people dead, including her own mother and brother.

When Immaculée later came face to face with their murderer, she forgave him. That decision of the will led to the Lord opening doors for her in every direction, so that she is now a worldwide ambassador for Christ, sowing seeds of His peace and forgiveness. It is an extraordinary story, and a perfect example of suffer-reign in practice.

She recounts the story in her book Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. You can watch a video of her sharing her testimony here.

And this article in The Independent tells the very powerful story of a whole community who reached out to the family of a man who murdered their daughters and then turned his gun on himself. Nothing about his mother’s new reality has been easy. But the friendship of those who lost their children has transformed it.

“No one could ever imagine on that day that something like this would be formed from it,” she said. “But because of the response of forgiveness, we were able to heal.”

Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash