Focal Passage: Job 30:26-31; 42:1-6
The life of Dr. Helen Roseveare has changed the way I view suffering. As a young girl growing up in England during World War II, Helen would often ask the question “Is it worth it?” Her question revolved around the idea of comparing the cost of an action to the benefit the action would bring. If the cost was greater than the benefit she would deem the action not worth the effort. When she had entered the university to study medicine her Christian friends took her to a Bible conference and that evening she gave her life to Christ. After medical school Helen gave her life to mission work.
In 1964, while serving as a missionary in the Congo, her village was overtaken by rebel soldiers, and Helen was taken captive, brutally beaten and raped twice.
She has told her story to thousands of people explaining that during that horrific event, she contemplated if the price being paid to tell others about Jesus was worth it. In a very unique way, as the rebel soldiers were taking her to do unspeakable things to her body, God spoke to her heart and said, “The question is not is it worth it, but am I worthy of it?” God changed her thinking at that moment from looking at the cost of her suffering to the privilege of suffering.
Think with me for moment. Could it be that God wants us to see suffering as a means of glorifying Him? Could it be that God wants you to see your sickness and hardships as an opportunity to magnify Him? I’m certain, as we see in our lesson, Job struggled while suffering, but when he came into the presence of God it no longer seemed to matter.
In fact, the Bible says, when Job saw God he despised himself and repented (Job 42:5-6). We must ask ourselves, “Are we willing to trust God no matter our circumstances?”
I pray we can be like Helen, and count all of life as a privilege, especially our suffering.